Just about a month after winning the WBA junior middleweight title from Gilbert Dele, Vinny Pazienza was in a horrific car crash on November 12, 1991. The head-on collision in Warwick, Rhode Island resulted in Vinny suffering a dislocated vertebra and two fractured vertebrae in his neck. His boxing career was certainly on hold after a halo was screwed into his head for three months, especially when doctors advised him that he’d never fight again.
The courageous Pazienza told his doctors that “You’re wrong. I will box again. You don’t know the kind of man I am.” He even defiantly worked out with weights while wearing the halo, and the videotape of it is still inspiring today. Sure enough, after having the halo removed from his head, Vinny went back into the gym, and resumed his boxing career as a full blown hero to the American public.
He returned to the ring on December 15, 1992 at the Foxwoods Resort in Massachusetts against Luis Santana, and won a unanimous ten round decision. It was good to see him healthy and strong at 158 lbs., and back in action against all odds.
Vinny returned to Foxwoods on March 2, 1993 and stopped veteran Brett Lally in six founds. He followed that up with another good win, over ex-world champion Lloyd Honeyghan on the undercard of the Evander Holyfield-Alex Stewart rematch in Atlantic City on June 26. Pazienza looked sharp in the ten round stoppage, and was now campaigning as a middleweight.
The ‘Pazman’ jumped up another weight class to 168 lbs. , and finished 1993 with two more victories, over veteran Robbie Sims on October 26, and against Dan Sherry on December 28. He certainly had come back in a big way after his car wreck, and the year 1994 was full of promise for him to say the least.
FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM AT kensoldtimeboxingchat
LISTEN TO MY PODCAST ON SPOTIFY AT kensoldtimeboxingchat
