Paul Vaden
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Paul Vaden (born December 29, 1967 in San Diego, CA) was a professional boxer. Known as "Ultimate", Vaden was an excellent amateur and highly skilled boxer. Vaden turned pro in 1991 and became a heated rival of Terry Norris. The two despised each other and took shots at one another in the media long before they did in the ring.
The two rivals were both junior middleweight champions engaging in the first title unification in the division's history. For years they knew they would one day meet in the ring. Ring magazine wrote of the fighter's feud " Norris and Vaden despise each other with a frightening intensity".
The fight however turned out to be a complete dud. Vaden showed up but not to fight. Norris jabbed and punched his way to one of the easiest decisions he ever had. Vaden, perhaps drained by trying to make weight, offered no excusses and declared the better man had won. Vaden had stated long before the fight that at 6'1" he was really at least a middleweight, but he forced himself to fight at junior middleweight so he could fight Norris.
His jump up in weight did help. He notched a few good wins and earned another title shot against WBC middleweight champ Keith Holmes. Holmes stopped Vaden in the 11th round. Soon after, on the comeback trail, Paul would kill one of his opponents in the ring, Stephan Johnson. Paul was devastated, and lost all fighting heart from the guilt. Vaden lost his last bout, but admitted he should never have fought it in the first place because his heart was no longer in the boxing game. He just needed to find out for himself.
| Preceded by Vincent Pettway |
IBF Light Middleweight Champion 12 August 1995–16 December 1995 |
Succeeded by Terry Norris |
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