There was, in December of 1992, on the 15th of the month to be exact, a truly stunning boxing comeback to behold. Vinny Pazienza, already a fighter to remember, confounded the doctors, the experts, indeed common logic, by returning to the ring – for many years as it turned out – after suffering a broken neck in a head-on car smash that occurred in November of 1991.
The docs told Vinny he might never walk again, let alone fight again. But Paz did both. And we love him for it. What a heck of a story – one that was taken to the silver screen – Paz’s story, his real-life story, really and truly is!
Pazienza – who officially changed his name to Vinny Paz in retirement – is remembered for many things. A genuine tough guy, it is perhaps the aforementioned horrific head-on car smash Paz was a victim of back in November of 1991, and his truly shocking ability to resume his ring career afterwards, that ranks as his most notable accomplishment.
But let’s go back to the start.
Going pro in May of 1983, Pazienza of Rhode Island soon forged out a rep as an East Coast crowd pleaser – a rough, tough, always exciting warrior who was well worth parting with well-earned dollars to see fight. At his best at 135 pounds, Pazienza would eventually capture belts at 135, 154, and, if you wish to count either the IBO and/or the WBU straps, super-middleweight.
On the way up, Pazienza defeated good men such as Jeff Bumpus (who was known as “The Tazmanian Devil), Melvin Paul, Joe Frazier Jr, and Harry Arroyo. Then, in June of 1987, Vinny had his first bitter encounter with the man who proved to be his career arch-rival, his ring enemy. Enter Greg Haugen.
Pazienza and Haugen didn’t like each other. To put it mildly. Haugen felt Pazienza thought he was better than him, that his rival failed to show him the proper respect. These two men, each as tough and as bite-down determined as the other, were about as evenly matched as could be imagined. “He’s a pretty white boy who thinks he’s something he’s not,” Haugen spat when describing Pazienza. “I hate his guts,” Pazienza fired back.
Eventually, these two ring warriors would fight 40 hard, at times gruelling rounds of battle. At the end, it was still up for grabs who the better fighter was.
Fight-one came in the summer of ’87, with IBF lightweight champ Haugen agreeing to defend against Pazienza in his challenger’s hometown of Providence. Pazienza, 22-1 (the loss coming at the hands of forgotten fighter Abdelkader Marbi, who stopped Vinny in five in Italy in December of 1984), vowed to rip the title from the man known as “Mutt.”
After a draining war that saw both men suffer punishment, Pazienza won the belt via 15 15-round unanimous decision. The rematch came the following February, in Atlantic City, and this time Haugen won via 15-round UD. There had to be a rubber match. It would not come for two-and-a-half years, and the decider would be a non-title affair up at 140 pounds.
Before then, ex-champ Pazienza went up in weight and dropped decisions in two goes at a belt at 140; the first loss coming against Roger Mayweather, the second coming against Hector Camacho. Pazienza bounced back from the two defeats to win the series with Haugen, winning a ten-round UD in Atlantic City. To this day, Pazienza and Haugen remain bitter, with both arguing about the results of all three fights.
Pazienza then lost in a third bid to become a champion at 140, this time via DQ, when he threw defending champ Loreto Garza across the ring in the 11th round. The loss added to Pazienza’s bad-boy image. Ever popular, Vinny was afforded yet another title chance just two fights later, this against defending WBA 154-pound champ Gilbert Dele. Pazienza, now aged 30 and sporting a 30-5 record, stopped Dele in the 12th and final round to become a two-time champ.
Then came the car smash that occurred in Warwick, Rhode Island, with Vinny a passenger in the car. Pazienza suffered a dislocated vertebra as well as two fractured vertebrae. The sport of boxing was about to witness a truly astonishing comeback.
Pazienza, determined to prove the doctors wrong, was strapped into a cage-like ‘halo’ – the device actually drilled into the fighter’s head. Incredibly, just days after being sent home from the hospital, Pazienza began working out, this in secret. Just 13 months after the crash, Pazienza was back in the ring! It was enough to make a movie about – and of course it proved to be; with Paz’s life story given the silver screen treatment in 2016’s ‘Bleed for This.’
Told he would never fight again, so severe were his injuries, Pazienza royally shoved it to the experts by lacing ’em up again no less than 24 times after the accident. And Vinny got into another bitter rivalry – this one with a living legend.
After returning to the ring with a win over Luis Santana, the points win being a deservedly well-publicised fight, one that was watched behind closed doors by many fans, Pazienza went on to defeat Lloyd Honeyghan, Robbie Simms, Dan Sherry, and Roberto Duran.
Now fighting at 168 pounds, 31-year-old Pazienza recovered from an early knockdown to decision Duran in June of 1994, in a big fight held in Vegas. As was/is the case with Haugen, Pazienza hated/hates Duran. The two would meet again, in early ’95, with Vinny again winning via decision. Pazienza was then brutally dispatched by a peak Roy Jones Junior, Vinny being taken out in six rounds.
One more big win followed, this time a TKO stoppage of another guy Vinny couldn’t stand in Dana Rosenblatt. Pazienza was then beaten by a comebacking Herol Graham, he picked up a decent win over Glenwood Brown, and then Pazienza lost the rematch with Rosenblatt. Amazingly, one more crack at a legit world title awaited Pazienza.
In March of 2002, a 39-year-old Paz (he legally changed his name in 2001) was outpointed by defending WBC super-middleweight champ Eric Lucas. And then, finally, after a decision win over Tocker Pudwill in March of 2004, the utterly remarkable ring career of Vincenzo Edward Pazienza had reached its end.
Paz, who exited with a final record that reads 50-10(30), during which he was stopped just three times, is a real fan favourite these days, his hand eagerly shaken by all fight fans who meet him.
So, how great was Vinny Paz? He was tougher than he was great, let’s put it that way. But Paz was at times far more than just a tough guy.
Wow, is about all we can say about this fighter, this living legend. This never-say-die warrior.