Matt Vanda (born October 16, 1978) is an American former

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

who competed from 1996 to 2014.

Professional career

Vanda's made his professional debut on March 30, 1996 in the

welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like Muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify the ...

division against Ed Fuller in

Kearney, Nebraska Kearney is the county seat of Buffalo County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 30,787 in the 2010 census. It is home to the University of Nebraska at Kearney. The westward push of the railroad as the Civil War ended gave new birt ...

. Vanda won the fight by knockout in the second round. Vanda showed great potential as a young pro, finally returning to St Paul for his fourth professional bout, a win against Angel Louis Salgado. Vanda won his first 11 fights by knockout, and was undefeated in his first 31 professional fights, garnering national attention. The national attention soured after Vanda defeated Sam Garr on ESPN in a controversial decisions. In April 2008 Vanda lost a unanimous decision to the highly regarded Sebastien Demers in a fight for Demers'

IBF The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...

International middleweight title. On June 24, 2005, "The Predator" Vanda recorded his greatest victory of his career in a thrilling victory for the I.B.A. America's Title over former World Champion Luis Ramon "Yory Boy" Campas in front of a rowdy crowd of 7,500 fans in his home state of Minnesota at the Target Center. On June 6, 2008, ESPN.com's Dan Rafael reported Matt Vanda will fight Julio César Chávez, Jr. on July 12, 2008. On July 12 Vanda lost against

Julio César Chávez Jr. Julio César Chávez Carrasco (born 16 February 1986), best known as Julio César Chávez Jr., is a Mexican professional boxer who held the WBC middleweight title from 2011 to 2012. He is the son of former three-division world champion of bo ...

in a controversial decision by a judge who gave the fight to Chavez 100 to 90. Chavez Jr. (37-0-1) won by a

split decision A split decision (SD) is a winning criterion in boxing, most commonly in full-contact combat sports, in which two of the three judges score one particular competitor as the winner, while the third judge scores for the other competitor. A split dec ...

over Vanda (38-7). Chavez won by scores of 97-93 and 100-90, while losing 96-95 on another card. On November 1, 2008 Vanda lost against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. by unanimous decision in a ten round affair. On February 21, 2009, Vanda lost a unanimous decision to

John Duddy John Francis Duddy (born 19 June 1979) is an Irish actor and former professional boxer who fought from 2003 to 2010. He challenged once for the vacant WBC Silver middleweight title, losing in his final fight to Julio César Chávez Jr.

in a ten round affair. On April 18, 2009, Vanda (40-9) scored a disputed majority decision win against veteran boxer and two time world title challenger Tocker Pudwill. On August 14, 2009, Vanda (41-9) had an impressive win against Ted Muller. This was a fight to prepare Vanda for his fight against the hard hitting Minnesota fighter Phil "The Drill" Williams. Vanda defeated Williams in a split decision.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vanda, Matt 1978 births Living people Middleweight boxers Boxers from Saint Paul, Minnesota American male boxers