Paolo Vidoz

Paolo Vidoz
Data
Birth Name	Paolo Vidoz
Fight name	Titanium Jaw
Weight class	Heavyweight
nationality	Italian
birthday	August 21, 1970
place of birth	Gorizia
style	Left delivery
size	1.91 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	39
Victories	28
Knockout victories	15th
Defeats	11
Profile in the BoxRec database

Paolo Vidoz (born August 21, 1970 in Gorizia , Italy ) is an Italian boxer.

amateur

Vidoz remained an amateur until the age of 30. In 1996 he took part in the European Championships in Vejle , but lost because of a disqualification in the quarterfinals against René Monse , because he struck after the end of the round. In the same year he took part in the Olympic Games in Atlanta , but lost to Cuban Alexis Rubalcaba prematurely in the first fight .

In 1997 he finished third at the Amateur World Cup in Budapest after failing again at Rubalcaba in the semifinals. In 1998, Vidoz won the Goodwill Games in New York with a final victory over Rubalcaba .

At the 1999 World Cup in Houston he was third again: Although he succeeded in another victory over Rubalcaba in the quarterfinals, in the semifinals he had to admit defeat to Kazakh Muchtarchan Dildabekow .

In 2000 he was vice European champion in Tampere , he only lost in the final against Russian Alexei Lesin . He also took part in the 2000 Olympic Games for Italy and won the bronze medal there. He won first against Calvin Brock (abort victory in the fourth round at the registry of 21-5 due to a conversion of more than 15 points) and Sam Peter (15-3 with victory points), but lost in the semifinals to eventual gold medalist Audley Harrison with 16-32.

Professional career

Paolo Vidoz's first professional fight took place on January 27, 2001 against Chris Morris. Vidoz won with a knockout in the first round. In April 2002 he won the vacant Italian heavyweight championship.

He suffered his first defeat surprisingly in August 2002 against the American Zuri Lawrence by a unanimous decision on points. His professional contract in the USA was already over. After a few victories in Italy against less notable opponents, a fight against Nikolai Valujew followed . Vidoz's preparation time was only short, which made a lack of physical condition noticeable after just a few laps. Ultimately, Valujew won relatively superior by technical knockout in the ninth round. Vidoz suffered a broken jaw in the fight, then had his jaw reinforced with titanium and was then nicknamed "Titanium Jaw" (titanium jaw).

On June 11, 2005 Vidoz jumped in for the Dane Steffen Nielsen, who had canceled his European championship fight against Timo Hoffmann . Despite the short preparation time of less than a week, Vidoz was able to win just on points and became European champion. He then defended the title against the British Michael Sprott and against Cengiz Koç .

As a result, the EBU stated that Vidoz would next have to deny a compulsory defense of his title. The mandatory challengers Luan Krasniqi , Sinan Şamil Sam and Danny Williams initially appointed by the EBU refused for various reasons, only Wolodymyr Wirtschis accepted the fight. The fight was auctioned by Wirtschis' boxing stable Spotlight Boxing , which thus received the right to organize the fight. The meeting took place on July 15, 2006 in the Color Line Arena as a preliminary to a UBP event with Felix Sturm . Vidoz went KO after a right hook in the sixth round and lost the European title to Wirtschis. Vidoz and Wirtschis contested a rematch on May 19, 2007, which Wirtschis was able to win clearly on points.

After two premature victories, Vidoz boxed on July 4, 2008 in Ankara for the vacant European title against Sinan Samil Sam from Turkey . This fight, which Vidoz dominated over long distances with his jab, was initially rated as a draw. After the fight, there were tumultuous scenes around one of the judges, who then had to flee the hall. This judge is said to have changed his rating after the end of the fight to the disadvantage of Sam. After Sam's boxing stable, the Arena Box Promotion, lodged a protest with the EBU, the latter finally declared Sam the winner and new European champion just under two weeks later.

On December 19 of the same year, Vidoz boxed again for the vacant EBU belt against Briton Matt Skelton . Vidoz gave up the fight after the ninth round.

On March 3, 2009 he won against a build-up opponent in the fourth round by knockout. After that, on December 18, 2009, he was given another chance to box the EBU's European Championship, which was vacant again. He lost this fight against Albert Sosnowski unanimously on points. In 2010, three more fights followed, all of which Vidoz lost on points, including against the undefeated Kubrat Pulew . In 2011 he won two build-up fights, but lost the fight for the Italian championship title against Matteo Modugno at the end of the year, where he brought his highest competition weight to date with 130 kg. After this fight, he ended his career.

Others

Together with his wife, Vidoz owns a farm in his hometown of Gorizia , where he prepares for his fights. His wife also works as a "cutwoman" in each of his fights.

Web links

• Paolo Vidoz in the BoxRec database
• Paolo Vidoz in the BoxRec Encyclopaedia
• Paolo Vidoz in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )