Paul Pender (June 20, 1930 – January 12, 2003), was an American boxer and firefighter from Massachusetts who held the World Middleweight Championship.

Early life

Pender was born in the

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

suburb of Brookline, Massachusetts, the son of William and Anna (Lyster) Pender. A 1949 graduate of

Brookline High School Brookline High School is a four-year public high school in the town of Brookline, Massachusetts. It is a part of Public Schools of Brookline. The Headmaster is Anthony Meyer who holds a Master of Education in Teaching and Curriculum from Harvard ...

, Pender was recruited as an all American football player at Michigan State University and Penn State, but instead, chose to enter professional boxing, while attending Staley College. Although a champion, he regarded boxing as his second job and being a Brookline firefighter his first. As an amateur, he won the New England welterweight championship. Pender was a member of the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

Professional career

In 1959, the

National Boxing Association The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is the oldest and one of four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Council (WBC), International Boxi ...

withdrew its recognition of

Sugar Ray Robinson Walker Smith Jr. (May 3, 1921 – April 12, 1989), better known as Sugar Ray Robinson, was an American professional boxer who competed from 1940 to 1965. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. He is often regard ...

as middleweight champion.

Gene Fullmer Lawrence Gene Fullmer (July 21, 1931 – April 27, 2015) was an American professional boxer and World Middleweight champion. Professional career Fullmer began his professional career in 1951 and won his first 29 fights, 19 by knockout. His mana ...

and

Carmen Basilio Carmen Basilio (born Carmine Basilio, April 2, 1927 – November 7, 2012) was an American professional boxer who was the world champion in both the welterweight and middleweight divisions, beating Sugar Ray Robinson for the latter title. An ir ...

fought for the vacant NBA title, and Fullmer won. Pender beat Robinson, one of the greatest fighters of all time, for the disputed middleweight championship title. He won by split decision in 15 rounds. Pender fought Robinson once again to defend his title and went on to beat him by split decision. He fought a set of three matches against English boxer

Terry Downes Terry Downes, BEM (9 May 1936 – 6 October 2017) was a British middleweight boxer, occasional film actor, and businessman. He was nicknamed the "Paddington Express" for his aggressive fighting style. At the time of his death, Downes was Brita ...

, of which only the third (on April 7, 1962) went the full distance. He won the first and the third bout, but the last would prove to be the only fight of that year for Pender and the last of his career. The New York Boxing Commission stripped Pender of his title for not defending it against

Dick Tiger Dick Tiger (born Richard Ihetu; August 14, 1929 – December 14, 1971) was a Nigerian-born professional boxer who held the undisputed middleweight and light-heavyweight championships. Tiger emigrated to Liverpool, England to pursue his box ...

. Pender sued and won on appeal. His career was hampered by his brittle hands. He retired May 7, 1963 as the current world middleweight champion. His career record was 40 wins (20 by KO), 6 losses, and 2 draws.

Death

He died in

Bedford, Massachusetts Bedford is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population of Bedford was 14,383 at the time of the 2020 United States Census. History ''The following compilation comes from Ellen Abrams (1999) based on information ...

on January 12, 2003, at the

Veterans Administration The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing life-long healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers a ...

Hospital.

Professional boxing record

References

External links