10.05.06 – Jim Amato: There are times when a young, promising boxer comes along that you make a decision to jump on the bandwagon or just end up disliking him. You might think he’s the next Benny Leonard or that he is an over hyped average fighter, at best. When Vinny Pazienza burst on the scene, I was not on the bandwagon. For the most part, I thought he was too loud, boastful and to a point abrasive.. That said, he did work his way up the lightweight ladder toward a title shot, beating one of my favorites, ex IBF lightweight champion Harry Arroyo. He then defeated Greg Haugen to win the title. However, the rugged Haugen regained the title from Vinny, causing him to move up to the 140 lb. class. If that wasn’t bad enough, Vinny was also defeated by Roger Mayweather, Hector Camacho and Loreto Garcia, in attempts at the junior welterweight title.
Enter Phase II of Vinny’s career. During this period, Vinny suffered serious injuries in car accident, leaving a question mark as to whether he would ever be able to fight again. Yet, to see Vinny training diligently with a halo screwed to his head, just blew me away. However, he somehow made it back, jumping a weight class and defeating Gilbert Dele for the junior middleweight title. At that point, I became a Paz fan!
In 1994, he met my idol Roberto Duran. As much as I respected Vinny, I rooted against him. To this day, I think Roberto deserved the decision in that fight, yet Vinny got it. Vinny deservedly won their return bout. Now, Vinny was matched with a prime Roy Jones Jr. Clearly, this was a suicide mission for Vinny, as he ended up being outclassed by one of the era’s best fighters. However, to his credit, he went out on his shield like a true warrior.
Next came the fight he was supposed to lose, when he met the highly touted Dana Rosenblatt, who was 28-0. Dana was a good boxer, with decent power, who appeared to be going places. He did well for three rounds but in the fourth, a determined Pazienza rocked him. His follow up barrage prompted referee Tony Orlando to intervene, yet Vinny wasn’t finished with his onslaught, which even felled the referee. Sportsmanlike? No, but that was the warrior in Vinny. He was caught up in the moment.
In his next match, Vinny would lose to the smooth boxing Herol Graham. Following that match, Vinny would lose a decision in a rematch to Rosenblatt. He was then stopped by former welterweight king Aaron Davis.
Vinny had one more shot at glory in 2002, when he lost to WBC super middleweight champion Eric Lucas. Two years l later, Vinny would win a decision over Tocker Pudwill in his last fight.
Vinny won 50 of 60 fights. He scored 30 knockouts. He was one of the most entertaining boxers of his time. He feared no one. He was great for the sport. I wish there were more like him around today.