Paul Vaden (born December 29, 1967) 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 1991 to 2000, holding the

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 ...

light middleweight Light middleweight, also known as junior middleweight or super welterweight,PeBoxRec/ref> is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing The light middleweight division (also known as junior middleweight in the IBF or super welterweight in the WBA an ...

title in 1995. He remains the only native San Diegan to become a professional world boxing champion.

Amateur career

Known as "Kid Ultimate", Vaden had a highly accomplished

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

career, compiling an outstanding amateur record of 327–10. In 1990 Vaden became the United States national amateur light middleweight champion. (Link to –

United States national amateur boxing light middleweight champions Below is a list of National Amateur Boxing Light Middleweight Champions, also known as United States Amateur Champions, along with the state or region which they represented. This category was recently discontinued. The United States National B ...

). Vaden was also a bronze medal winner in the 71 kg (156 lbs) division at the 1990

Goodwill Games The Goodwill Games were an international sports competition created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s. In 1979, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan caused the United States and other ...

. A top candidate to make the 1992 U.S. Olympic team Vaden instead decided to turn professional, citing dissatisfaction with amateur boxing's newly implemented scoring system, and the sport's political nature as chief among his reasons.

Professional career

Vaden, now campaigning as "The Ultimate", turned pro on April 5, 1991, and began his career with 18 consecutive wins. On March 25, 1994, he won the

Inter-Continental Junior Middleweight title with a 12-round unanimous decision over veteran John Montes. On August 12, 1995, at the

MGM Grand Garden Arena The MGM Grand Garden Arena (originally known as the MGM Grand Garden Special Events Center) is a 17,000-seat multi-purpose arena located within the MGM Grand Las Vegas on the Las Vegas Strip. Sporting events From its opening on December 18, 1993 ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

as a decided underdog, Vaden defeated Vincent Pettway by 12th round TKO to win Pettway's

154 lb title. Pettway built an early lead but faded as the fight went on. Vaden came on strong in the later rounds, and the referee,

Richard Steele Sir Richard Steele (bap. 12 March 1672 – 1 September 1729) was an Anglo-Irish writer, playwright, and politician, remembered as co-founder, with his friend Joseph Addison, of the magazine ''The Spectator''. Early life Steele was born in Du ...

, stopped the fight with 27 seconds left in the 12th round. At the time of the stoppage Vaden, despite appearing to be winning the fight to ringsiders, was surprisingly behind by 1 point on all three judges' scorecards.

Terry Norris

On December 16, 1995, at the

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Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, Vaden met WBC

light-middleweight Light middleweight, also known as junior middleweight or super welterweight,PeBoxRec/ref> is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing The light middleweight division (also known as junior middleweight in the International Boxing Federation, IBF or ...

champion

Terry Norris Terry is a unisex given name, derived from French Thierry and Theodoric. It can also be used as a diminutive nickname for the names Teresa or Theresa (feminine) or Terence or Terrier (masculine). People Male * Terry Albritton (1955–2005), Am ...

in a title unification bout. The pre-fight build-up was notable for the animosity displayed between the two fighters. The fight itself turned out to be one-sided, Norris dominated Vaden and scored a decisive

unanimous decision A unanimous decision (UD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and other sports involving striking and submission in which all three judges agree on which fighter ...

to claim Vaden's

title. Judge George Hill scored the fight 119–109, judge Barbara Perez scored it 118–110, and judge William James scored the fight 120–108.

Later career

Vaden was to challenge one more time for a world title, losing by TKO in 11 rounds to WBC

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have be ...

champion Keith Holmes on December 5, 1997, at the Pompano Beach Amphitheatre,

Pompano Beach, Florida Pompano Beach ( ) is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. It is located along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, just north of Fort Lauderdale. The nearby Hillsboro Inlet forms part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. As of the 2020 ...

. Vaden was knocked down twice in the 4th, and once in the 11th round. Referee Brian Garry stopped the bout shortly after the knockdown in the 11th. On November 20, 1999, at the

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, Vaden won the vacant USBA

junior middleweight Light middleweight, also known as junior middleweight or super welterweight,PeBoxRec/ref> is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing The light middleweight division (also known as junior middleweight in the International Boxing Federation, IBF or ...

title by knocking out Stephan Johnson in the 10th round. Johnson never regained consciousness and died 15 days later. Johnson had lost by knockout 7 months prior to his fight with Vaden, and it is suspected he might have entered the bout with Vaden with a pre-existing brain injury. Vaden was to retire shortly after the Johnson fight. In Vaden's final bout he lost his USBA light-middleweight title to NABA champion Jose Alfredo (Shibata) Flores by unanimous decision on April 15, 2000.

References

External links

*
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaden, Paul 1967 births Living people Winners of the United States Championship for amateur boxers International Boxing Federation champions American male boxers Light-middleweight boxers Competitors at the 1990 Goodwill Games World light-middleweight boxing champions