After his one-sided loss to Roy Jones, Jr. on June 24, 1995, Vinny Pazienza stayed out of the ring for more than a year. He finally returned to action on August 23 in Atlantic City against Dana Rosenblatt on pay-per-view. I couldn’t help but think how different watching this one was as opposed to the disastrous night against Jones a year earlier. Rosenblatt was a rival in the New England area, and a perfect opponent for Vinny’s return to action.
The bout was for the fringe at best, WBU super middleweight title that belonged to Rosenblatt. The fight itself saw Dana outbox Pazienza from his southpaw stance for a few rounds, and it appeared that Vinny was in trouble again. Out of nowhere however, Vinny landed an overhand right that knocked Rosenblatt down. He swarmed the kid after he got up, forcing the ref to call it, and the ‘Pazmanian Devil’ was back in the win column.
Vinny took another huge break from the ring, and didn’t fight again until December of 1997, when he traveled to Wembley Arena in London, England to challenge Herol Graham. Another twelve round decision loss meant yet another setback for a guy who lost most every major fight he ever had. At almost 36 years of age, I wondered why he was even fighting anymore.
When he did return on July 26, 1998 at Foxwoods Resort, I had more important things on my mind. The Sunday night he fought, was the weekend I had felt a sharp pain in my testicle, which had been swelling up for a while. I knew I was in trouble, and had to get it checked out. A young kid I knew 8 years earlier had been diagnosed with testicular cancer, and his treatments weren’t fun. Even though he made a full recovery, I wasn’t really looking forward to the process if I was right about myself.
That Friday night, I received the diagnosis that I did in fact have testicular cancer. It was a long process I won’t talk about here, but in short I had a testicle removed, and 4 weeks of radiation treatments. Fortunately I never had to receive chemo, while was a huge relief. This all took place while I’m trying to keep my lawn service going, which was my full-time job. Thank God I survived the ordeal, and am perfectly fine today.
As far as Vinny’s fight with Glenwood Brown that July 26, he won a majority decision, and kept his career alive. The first thing I think about when I see that bout, was my own frame of mind that Sunday night, and my own fight I had ahead. In my case, with God Almighty by my side, I won my fight, and got to keep on living, which is the most important thing of all.
FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM AT kensoldtimeboxingchat
LISTEN TO MY PODCAST ON SPOTIFY AT kensoldtimeboxingchat
