Vinny Pazienza

Vinny Pazienza
Vinny Pazienza, 1994
Data
Birth Name	Vincenzo Edward Pazienza
Fight name	The Pazmanian Devil
Weight class	Lightweight, light welterweight, light middleweight, super middleweight
nationality	US-american
birthday	December 16, 1962
place of birth	Cranston
style	Standard boom (left boom)
size	1.71 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	60
Victories	50
Knockout victories	30th
Defeats	10
Profile in the BoxRec database

Vinny Pazienza (born December 16, 1962 in Cranston as Vincenzo Edward Pazienza , also known as Vinny Paz ) is a former American professional boxer of Italian descent. He was the first boxer to win a recognized lightweight ( IBF ) and later light middleweight ( WBA ) world title. In addition, he was the world champion of the less important international associations IBO , IBC and WBU in the super middleweight division , which is why he is often referred to as a five-time world champion in three weight classes.

Due to his aggressive and action-packed boxing style, he received the battle name "Pazmanian Devil" based on the Tasmanian Devil (en: Tasmanian Devil ). He is also known for his successful comeback after a broken neck in 1991, which was voted Comeback of the Year by Ring Magazine . In 2016 the film Bleed for This , which is about the career of Vinny Pazienza, was released. He is played by Miles Teller .

Amateur career

Vinny Pazienza started boxing when she was a child. In 1979 he won the New England Golden Gloves, in 1981 he became the American lightweight champion and boxed for the national team. His amateur record is 100 wins and 12 losses.

Professional career

He started his career as a professional boxer on May 26, 1983 with a knockout victory in the fourth round over debutant Alfredo Rivera. He was also able to win his next 13 fights, eleven of them prematurely. He suffered his first defeat on December 1, 1984 against the French Abdelkader Marbi. Marbi was unsuccessful in his boxing career, but was Pazienza's strongest opponent with a record of 14 wins and 3 losses.

With eight wins in a row against strong opponents, including Jeff Bumpus (19-2), Joe Frazier junior (son of Joe Frazier ), ex-IBF world champion Harry Arroyo (29-2), the undefeated Nelson Bolanos (31-0) and the two-time world championship challenger Roberto Elizondo (31-5), he was given the opportunity to take the IBF world championship lightweight title. He won this on June 7, 1987 by unanimously winning points over the undefeated title holder Greg Haugen (19-0). But already in the direct rematch on February 6, 1988, he lost against Haugen by losing points and thus his title.

After two early construction wins, he boxed on November 7, 1988 for the WBC world light welterweight title, but lost by losing points to Roger Mayweather (33-5). After three more early victories, he got the chance to win the WBO world light welterweight title on February 3, 1990 . But he also lost this fight by losing points to the title holder Héctor Camacho (36-0).

After another win against Greg Haugen, he boxed on December 1, 1990 against Loreto Garza (27-1) for the WBA world light welterweight title. Pazienza was completely inferior here, however, was hopelessly behind with all three judges, was severely marked by swellings and cuts on the face and was finally disqualified in round 11 when he tried to pick up Garza and throw him out of the ring.

After changing the weight class, he was on July 2, 1991 by unanimous victory over Ron Amundsen (20-4), American light middleweight champion. On October 1, 1991 he defeated the French title holder Gilbert Delé, who was undefeated in 30 professional fights, by technical knockout in round 12 and thus received his WBA world title in light middleweight.

Due to a serious traffic accident in which he suffered a broken neck, he had to give up his WBA title again because he could not have defended it. Pazienza was in the hospital for more than three months with a special ruff, while doctors advised against boxing.

However, Pazienza returned to the ring and beat the two top boxers Luis Santana (later WBC world champion) and Lloyd Honeyghan (former WBA, WBC and IBF world champion) before he rose to the super middleweight division and knocked out Dan Sherry, won the IBO title on December 28, 1993. On January 14, 1995, he defeated boxing legend Roberto Durán (92-9) by unanimous victory on points and thereby also won the IBC title, which he successfully defended in the rematch against Durán.

On June 24, 1995 there was a clash with the undefeated IBF World Champion Roy Jones junior (28-0). The fight was fought at high speed and with numerous spectacular actions, with Jones however clearly dominating the fight. In the 6th round, Pazienza went down three times and finally lost to a technical knockout after a punch attack by Jones.

In his next fight on August 23, 1996, he defeated the undefeated Dana Rosenblatt (28-0) by technical knockout in the fourth round and thus won the title of the WBU. By the end of his career in 2004, he was still able to defeat numerous well-known boxers, such as Arthur Allen (23-4), Joseph Kiwanuka (26-3), Estéban Cervantes (21-2) and the two-time World Championship challenger Tocker Pudwill ( 39-5). He lost two more World Cup chances this time; So he had to admit defeat in the fight for the IBO title Dana Rosenblatt, in the fight for the WBC title he lost on points to Éric Lucas (34-4).

Others

As a professional boxer, Pazienza was a total of 460 rounds in the ring and played 59 of his 60 fights in the United States. He completed only one professional fight outside the United States, that on December 6, 1997 in London against Herol Graham, which he lost on points. His weight gain was particularly noticeable in the course of his career; So he fought at the beginning in the lightweight and rose within his career to super middleweight, a jump of at least five weight classes. In 1987 his lowest combat weight was measured at 134.5 pounds (approx. 61 kg), and in 2001 he weighed in at 171 pounds (approx. 77.6 kg), his highest combat weight.

The rapper and lyricist of the group Jedi Mind Tricks , Vincenzo Luvinieri , changed his stage name to Vinnie Paz based on Vinny Paz . He also had TV appearances as a security guard on the Jerry Springer Show , as an actor in the 5th episode of the TV series Police Academy and as a referee on WrestleMania XV .

He was inducted into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in 2002 and the Connecticut Boxing Hall of Fame in 2011.

predecessor	Office	successor
Greg Haugen	World lightweight boxing champion ( IBF ) June 7, 1987 - February 6, 1988	Greg Haugen

predecessor	Office	successor
Gilbert Delé	World Light Middleweight Boxing Champion ( WBA ) October 1, 1991 - 1992	Julio César Vásquez

Web links

• Vinny Paz on the BoxRec Wiki
• Vinny Pazienza in the BoxRec database
• Twilights Peter Facinelli to Play Vinny Pazienza in movie
• Vinny Paz in the Internet Movie Database (English)