The man is 50 years old and has a belly that protrudes in a manner that suggests his blood pressure and cholesterol levels are in code red territory.

Not so, says “Bronco” Billy Wright, the most unlikely of heavyweight contenders I have come across in my decades of covering this red light district of a sport.

“I can hold a lemon meringue pie in one hand and a pumpkin pie in the other and still knock you out!” says the Las Vegas resident (46-4, 37 knockouts) in a recent phoner.

Wright, who debuted as a pro in 1986 after taking to boxing to get back in shape after breaking his back in a workplace accident, told me he’s set to glove up on March 13 at We Ko Pa Casino in Fort McDowell, AZ against Gilberto Matheus Domingos, a 22-2 (20 KOs) Brazilian.

It’s the first fight in the US since 2012 for Wright, who has made Bolivia his ring home away from home of late. “Fighting in America is very important,” said the boxer, rated No. 17 at heavyweight by the WBC. “This comeback is a difficult one to accept for people. I had to go abroad to get fights. Fighting here, I would have just been a club fighter and, nothing against that, but that’s not what I want.”

What he wants, he says, is for you simply to tune in and judge him by his merits, not his age or the fact that he has too much of a fondness for sweets. Roy Jones Jr.’s group is willing to give Wright a shot and put him on this card and he’s hoping you have an open mind as well.

“See for yourself! Yes, I’m 50 but it works to my advantage. I relax; I have my priorities in check. I don’t drink, don’t do the crazy stuff I did in my 20s and 30s, drinking beer, chasing skirts. No, I’m not the bodybuilder, Adonis-type people have come to expect. I’m an old-school fighter. You had, back in the ’80s, Larry Holmes, Tim Witherspoon, Tony Tubbs; I’m more like a lumberjack. If you’re looking to see a body, save your money but otherwise come to see me and an exciting knockout fight. You’re going to see that for sure.”  Continue Reading…