More than two decades after throwing his final punch—and over 30 years after a near-fatal car crash left him with a broken neck—Cranston, Rhode Island, native Vinny Paz was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame on Saturday at the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, N.Y.
Paz (50-10, 30 KOs), once known as Vinny Pazienza, entered the Hall alongside greats Manny Pacquiao and Michael Nunn in the men’s modern category. But few stories in the annals of boxing match Paz’s for grit, heart, and sheer defiance of the odds.
After winning the WBA junior middleweight title in 1991 by stopping Gilbert Dele, Paz’s career was derailed just six weeks later in a head-on collision that left him with two fractured vertebrae and a grim prognosis: he might never walk again, let alone fight.
But “The Pazmanian Devil” refused to quit. With screws in his skull and a halo stabilizing his neck, he secretly trained against doctors’ orders. Thirteen months after the crash, he returned to the ring and outpointed Luis Santana, launching a second act that saw him defeat Roberto Duran twice and challenge a prime Roy Jones Jr.
Over a 21-year career that began in 1983, Paz collected titles in two weight classes and shared the ring with the best of his era—Duran, Jones, Hector Camacho, Roger Mayweather, and Greg Haugen, whom he beat in 1987 for the IBF lightweight crown.
His larger-than-life saga was immortalized in the 2016 film Bleed for This. But for those who saw him train with bolts in his head, no movie could ever fully capture the ferocity of his will.
Now, the fighter who once refused to stay down takes his rightful place in the Hall of Fame—proof that sometimes, toughness beats everything.
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