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03/25/2004 Archived Entry: "New England Chatta"
New England Chatta
By J.D Vena
Paz fights for the last time
It’s been one hellacious ride, but after nearly 21 years, the electrifying career of Vinny “The Pazmanian Devil” Paz will come to an end on Saturday night at Foxwoods Casino Resort, “the house that Vinny built.” Though those who attend the sold-out Fox Theater will witness the final swan song of Paz, who promises to notch his 50th win over former 2-time world title challenger, Tocker Pudwill of Bismarck, ND, fans will have their last look-see of a man that has been idled in the boxing world for years.
True, the fans won’t be seeing the prime Vinny Paz, who after breaking his neck in a fateful car accident in ’91 fought his best fights, but they’ll see glimpses of what made Paz the special fighter he was. There will be plenty to miss in the two-division champion after Saturday night if you don’t already miss him.
The blood, the guts, the showboating and the vigorous volleys of combinations that made you wonder how he could fight at such a torrid pace. There were the outrageous hair styles, and the “Melvin Paul Punch.” The heated rivalries with Greg Haugen, Roberto Duran and Malden’s Dana Rosenblatt, the slugfests, the lewd press conferences which Haugen, Rosenblatt and The Boston Herald’s George Kimball, would like to forget.
More importantly, how about the most befitting moniker you could ever conceive -“The Pazmanian Devil?” How could there be more of a coincidence that Paz’ nickname have such an appropriate, uncanny resemblance with Warner Brother’s rampaging cartoon character, “The Tasmanian Devil?” You know the one, the ferocious-looking but loveable marsupial that resembled a very small bear in Looney Tunes. The only differences between them were that The Taz was more hairy and had a better-looking nose than The Paz. For all intents and purposes, the Paz-man may have been the more Looney of the two as well.
Ah, Pazmania. It was well known to not only New England boxing fans but it caught on with the mainstream fans as well during the late 80’s and 90’s. When Ring Magazine decided to bring back their traditional Ring Record Book in 1996, they would include Paz’s record among the five non-champion fighters. They knew readers would be interested.
How could anyone think of character, a fighter like Vinny Paz? 
“Pazienza was an institution of Rhode Island and New England really,” remarked popular boxing analyst, Max Kellerman, who like your writer grew up during Pazmania. “When he was coming up, he was known as a slick boxer. Then he kind of got away from that and was getting beat by a lot of guys like Greg Haugen, Loretto Garza because he became this brawler type. Then he got back to boxing and he totally dominated Haugen in their rubber match, just by out-boxing him. Paz was always caught between two styles, almost like Arturo Gatti without the same kind of punch. He had some boxing ability in him but it was easier for him to just slug it out, because he had the ability to do it and the fans loved it.”
They ate it up as a matter of fact. On nights when he would be featured on USA’s Tuesday Night Fights or ESPN2’s Friday Night fights, fans had to tune in. You wouldn’t want to miss what Paz brought day in and day out. Paz would routinely earn $100,000 purses, something most popular heavyweights don’t earn in this day and age. Despite some of his faults, he was extremely well-liked and cherished for very good reasons.
“He gave his all in the ring and the fans really appreciated it,” added Kellerman. “He created a lot of excitement and he captured the imagination of the boxing world by overcoming the obstacles, like the car crash. Think about his story. Early on he was fighting and saving all of his money in the Rhode Island Credit Union. Finally, there was one fighter who was doing it right – making money and putting it away. He didn’t have huge paydays at the time but he had some nice ones. Then his savings and loan crashes and to top it off, he’s in a near fatal car crash, which should have ended his career. So now he’s without the ability to make a living and his money gets wiped out. You think to yourself, how could this happen to a guy who is finally doing the right thing? To come back from all of that is really a dramatic Hollywood story.”
Of course it takes a special human being to overcome adversities associated with boxing and bankruptcy, but how does a fighter come back from a broken neck? When you first heard he was planning on coming back from breaking his neck, did you actually believe it would happen? Everyone remembers Vinny disagreeing with his doctor’s prognosis and telling him, “You don’t know what kind of man I am.” It gave you goose bumps to hear that. Everyone remembers seeing him working out with the halo screwed into his head but no one really understood what kind of spirit he had until he came back.
During his comeback, no matter what happened, he’d give you the impression that whatever adversity he was facing, whether it was Roy Jones bouncing him off the canvas or whether his face was bleeding profusely, he’d be firing back. Speaking of which, how many times do you remember reading or hearing about Pazienza or Paz “bleeding profusely?” He couldn’t bleed enough for his fans and you just couldn’t keep him down.
“In terms of toughness, I don’t think you can get any tougher than Pazienza,” said Kellerman. “I think that there are plenty of boxers throughout the history of boxing that are as tough, but Pazienza is as tough as they come. You can’t say he’s tougher than Arturo Gatti or Matthew Saad Muhammad or Micky Ward. There were so many brawlers like “Little Red” Lopez and Bobby Chacon but you can’t say one was tougher than the other. They were all as tough as each other but you don’t get tougher than Pazienza. That’s as tough as a fighter is ever going to get.
Unfortunately, it’s been his toughness and love for the sport that has kept him fighting into his 40’s. Many of his fans had hoped that he “hung ‘em up” years ago simply because he hasn’t had anything to prove for a long time. Though, for a guy like Paz, who’s known for living the high life, he can always use a little money. “If someone offered you $100,000 or even $40,000 to fight someone, you’d do it,” said Kellerman. “But you’re not a professional athlete that has trained to fight for the last two decades. So when you see a fighter like Paz thinking he can still do it, even though he can’t do it like he use to, it must be hard to turn away because your average person wouldn’t turn it away, let alone a guy who’s been doing it his whole life.”
I’ll leave you with one more story, which took place just days before Paz’ rematch with neighborhood nemesis, Dana Rosenblatt. I was living with my parents at the time and I was given Paz’ telephone number by his longtime promoter and friend, Jimmy Burchfield to conduct an interview. I called Vinny at 8:00 P.M, hoping I’d catch him after coming home from his workout. He wasn’t there so I left him my telephone number on his answering machine. It was to be my second interview of a boxer. My first interview was the day before with Dana Rosenblatt, a very mature boxer who was very receptive with me. Come 11:00 P.M, I gave up on Vinny and went to bed only to wake up in the wee hours of the night by my dad. He had the phone in his hand and told me that Vinny Paz was returning my phone call. It was 1:30 A.M on a weeknight.
There will never be another fighter like Vinny Paz. You can only hope that another fighter like Vinny will tornado his way into the boxing world the way the Pazmanian Devil did.
Pemberton, Burchfield call out Beyer
Provided Aussie super-middleweight contender Danny Green pulls out of a planned June 5th title fight with Germany’s WBC champion, Markus “Boom Boom” Beyer due to “physical reasons,” CES Promoter Jimmy Burchfield is willing to offer Beyer $500,000 to fight New Bedford’s Scott “The Sandman” Pemberton. The NABF super middleweight champion has been craving a big money fight for the past two years and is coming off what may prove to be the year’s fight of the year, a satisfying 10th round knockout over New Jersey rival, Omar Sheika. Pemberton knows Beyer pretty well because the two had sparred several years ago when Beyer was preparing for Richie Woodhall.
Yesterday, Burchfield issued the following statement in a press release: "Scott Pemberton will be ready to take his place, but we challenge Beyer to make his title defense here in the U.S. To be a true world champion, recognized throughout the entire boxing world, at some point he has to fight outside of his backyard. He's fought 25 times at home in Germany and twice apiece in Austria and England. Scott is coming off two consecutive Fights of the Year candidates against Omar Sheika. He's proven to be a legitimate world championship challenger, but none of these so-called champions will give him a title shot. 'The Sandman' is fresh blood in a division that desperately needs a transfusion. The ball is in Beyer's court now.”
When Chelsea native and two-time WBA heavyweight champion John Ruiz signed a promotional contract with Don King years ago, many had felt the purpose was to align Ruiz to fight for a vacant title with one of King’s bigger name fighters. In his case, Ruiz was to be matched with Evander Holyfield, who was expected to defeat Ruiz. It happened, but Ruiz gave a good enough account of himself to earn a second shot, which he made good on. He lost to Roy Jones, Jr. last year but he just wouldn’t go away. Today, Ruiz is the WBA champion and will be defending his crown against Detroit’s Fres Oquendo at Madison Square Garden on April 17th.
On the same night, Worcester’ Jose “el Gallo” Rivera (37-3-1/ 24 KO’s), the newly crowned WBA champion is slated to meet what many perceive to be the second best welterweight in the world, former world champion Ricardo “el Matador” Rivera. Many expect that Rivera is in the same position Ruiz was in a few years back, but Rivera doesn’t expect to lose his stature or be that “sacrificial lamb” so to speak.
On a fight poster on display for what King has dubbed the card, “The New Era Begins,” Rivera’s picture does not appear on it, even though he is the defending champion.
“All I'm reading is Don talking about Mayorga's next opponent,” said Rivera’s manager, Steve “Tank” Tankanow. “Now it's supposed to be Tito Trinidad. From listening to Don, you'd never know he promotes Jose, too. Who will Don offer to Rivera after he knocks out Mayorga? Mayorga’s going to need more than Don, Carl and the others in his corner to beat Jose. They can't help him once the first bell rings. Jose is used to being an underdog, he's comfortable in that role, but come April 17 the whole boxing world is going to know Jose Antonio Rivera.”
There was a time when Evander Holyfield would freely sign autographs. It was just before he went to the ’84 Olympics when Holyfield would announce, “Get it now because this is your last chance.” Though I’m sure he’s signed a quite a few since, the idea was that he knew his Herbie Hancock was going to be worth something one day.
“I think that’s cold,” said Team USA Olympic boxer, Jason Estrada of Providence, RI. “”I don’t know how you could turn a fan down, especially if they’re paying to see you.”
Estrada (261-14), if you didn’t know was the first boxer to win both the U.S. Nationals and U.S. Challenge three years in a row and captured the super-heavyweight gold medal at the 2003 Pan American Games defeating Cuba’s Michael Nunez. Estrada was the first non-Cuban to win that medal and is a favorite to win Olympic Gold this summer. Should that happen, which has never happened to a New England born fighter, you can expect Estrada’s signature to be worth something within the very near future.
If you want to get early dibs, you can meet Estrada at a benefit, which will be held next Thursday night (7 P.M.), April 1 at Lancelotta Banquet Restaurant in North Providence. The benefit will help subsidize the costs associated with sending Estrada’s family to the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. The tickets, priced at $30, may be purchased by calling Manfredo’s Gym at 401-723-1359 or 401-241-3490. Lancelotta’s is located at 1113 Charles St in North Providence.
Speaking of Estrada, a couple of weeks ago, it was pointed out by Full Court Press publicist Bob Trieger as well as IBRO president Dan Cuoco that I had made an error. I wrote that should Estrada win Olympic gold this summer that “he would be the second New Englander to do so since Wilbert “Skeeter” McClure in 1960.” It made for some good historical facts but the simple fact is your writer forgot that McClure moved from Ohio to Massachusetts after winning the medal. So, I apologize to Ohio for trying to steal Dr. McClure from you, but we enjoy having him around.
On Friday, April 2nd, Estrada will also make an appearance at the Teacher’s Union Building, Bayside Expo (north entrance), in South Boston for an amateur show being billed as “The Battle of Boston/ Journey to London,” a fundraiser aimed to subsidize the costs, which will help send 25 New England boxers and coaches to England to participate in the 2nd Annual Pender-Downes Challenge Cup tournament. The tournament pits New England’s top amateur boxers with boxers from the famed 100-year old Fisher Club of London. Last year’s tournament at the Woburn and Lowell Elks Club, came down to the final round of the last fight of the tournament, when Peabody’s Simeon Dunwell, who was voted last year’s outstanding N.E Golden Gloves boxer, defeated David Byrnes in an exciting 4-rounder. Byrnes was regarded as the best boxer from the Fisher Club and it was one of many exciting fights. Dunwell’s heroics helped the New England team pull even and the result was a 12-12 tie.
The tournament is named in honor of Brookline’s Paul Pender (40-6-2, 20 KO’s) and Fisher Club’s first world champion, Terry Downes (35-9, 28 KO’s) of Paddington, England. The two engaged in three epic middleweight title bouts in the early 60’s with Pender winning twice. In addition to serving as a team assistant coach for Team New England, Lowell’s “Irish” Micky Ward will make a special appearance in between working the corners of his nephew Sean Eklund (152-pounds) of Lowell and South Boston’s Matt Ryan, who won the 165-pound novice title in February.
For more information about sponsorships and advertising opportunities contact Gregory Leschishin at 617-972-1711 or email him at coachGreg@bostonboxing.com. Tickets for "The Battle of Boston/Journey to London," priced at $25.00, may be purchased at most boxing clubs in Greater Boston and also will be available at the door. Your writer will be the tuxedo’d fellow with the microphone in his hand.
Fight fans attending the event will be able to purchase the newest issue of New England Ringside. Among some of the feature stories are the rise of new WBA champions, Travis Simms of Hartford, CT, Rivera, Ruiz, ratings, ringside reports and much, much more. Copies are $5 each. You can also subscribe by visiting www.newenglandringside.com.
Paz and Kellerman photos by Marty Rosengarten 917-576-7035
Pemberton-Sheika photo by Emily Harney
