Vinny Pazienza: Haugen, Durán and the comeback behind Bleed for This | Ultimate Boxing Reunion

Why fans still care

VINNY PAZIENZA won world titles at lightweight and light middleweight, 19 pounds apart. Then, six weeks after the second, he broke his neck in a car crash. He was back in the ring 13 months later and kept fighting for another 12 years.

He was never dull. Boxing News called his fights frantic and crowd pleasing, and ESPN’s Nigel Collins wrote that he “grins through the blood and keeps coming”.

Early life

He was born Vincenzo Edward Pazienza in December 1962 in Cranston, Rhode Island. By his own account his father was a salesman who backed his boxing and his mother owned a hair salon. He says he wanted to fight from about the age of five, after watching Muhammad Ali, Who’s Who number 33 on television. “From when I was a kid, I just wanted to fight,” he told Boxing News in 2016. As an amateur he boxed at 132 lb.

The early fights

He turned professional in 1983. Four years later, on 7 June 1987 in Providence, he beat Greg Haugen over 15 rounds for the IBF lightweight title, 144 to 141 on all three cards.

Career chapters

1. 1983Turns professional
2. 1987Beats Greg Haugen for the IBF lightweight title
3. 1988Loses the title back to Haugen, then loses to Roger Mayweather
4. 1990Loses to Héctor Camacho, beats Haugen in a third fight, and is disqualified against Loreto Garza
5. 1991Wins the WBA light middleweight title against Gilbert Delé, then breaks his neck in a car crash
6. 1992Returns 13 months after the crash and beats Luis Santana
7. 1993Stops Lloyd Honeyghan
8. 1994Beats Roberto Durán, Who’s Who number 13
9. 1995Beats Durán again, then is stopped by Roy Jones Jr, Who’s Who number 4
10. 1996Knocks out Dana Rosenblatt
11. 2004Wins his last fight, his 50th win
12. 2025Inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame

Haugen and the lean years 1988 to 1990

On 6 February 1988 in Atlantic City he lost the title back to Haugen on a wide decision over 15 rounds. He made the 135 lb limit, but according to UPI he had been eight pounds over four days earlier. “It just wasn’t my night, he had my number,” he said.

He moved up to light welterweight. On 7 November 1988 in Las Vegas, on the undercard of Sugar Ray Leonard, Who’s Who number 16 against Donny Lalonde, he lost a 12 round decision to WBC champion Roger Mayweather and was dropped by a right uppercut in round 11. On 3 February 1990 he lost over 12 rounds to Héctor Camacho for the WBO title. About six months later he beat Haugen in a non title rematch. On 1 December 1990 in Sacramento, against WBA champion Loreto Garza, he had a point taken for a low blow in round 6 and was disqualified at 2:59 of round 11.

Gilbert Delé 1 October 1991

Kevin Rooney had joined his corner after the Mayweather loss, working alongside Lou Duva. Rooney says he convinced him to move up in weight and set about getting him to box again. On 1 October 1991 at the Providence Civic Center he stopped the unbeaten Gilbert Delé in round 12 to win the WBA light middleweight title, his second world title. He has called it his greatest win.

The crash November 1991

On 12 November 1991, six weeks later, he was a passenger in a car crash on Post Road in Warwick, Rhode Island. Early reports said his neck was fractured, then dislocated. Later accounts describe two broken vertebrae and a third dislocated. On 14 November he was fitted with a halo brace, screwed to his skull, which stayed on for three months. His first defence, set for 10 January 1992, was cancelled, and he gave up the title.

He did not wait for the halo to come off. Rooney says he slipped out of hospital to lift weights five days after it was fitted, and by his own account he simply did not tell his doctor how hard he was training. He was sparring again by the end of June 1992.

The comeback 15 December 1992

On 15 December 1992 at Ledyard, Connecticut, after officials reviewed an MRI, he fought Luis Santana over 10 rounds. It was his first fight in 13 months. He put Santana down twice in round 9 with left hooks and won 100 to 88, 100 to 89 and 100 to 90. “I defied the odds. This is what I do best,” he said afterwards.

On 26 June 1993 in Atlantic City, fighting at middleweight, he put the former welterweight champion Lloyd Honeyghan down in round 3 and again late in round 9, and Honeyghan’s corner threw in the towel 56 seconds into round 10.

Roberto Durán 1994 and 1995

On 25 June 1994 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas he met the 43 year old Roberto Durán, Who’s Who number 13 at a 165 lb contract weight. Durán dropped him with a right in round 5. He got straight up, outlanded Durán 232 punches to 195, by CompuBox’s count, as reported by AP, and won every card, 117 to 113, 117 to 112 and 117 to 112. The belts at stake were minor ones. On 14 January 1995 in Atlantic City he beat Durán again on a unanimous decision.

Roy Jones Jr 24 June 1995

On 24 June 1995 at the Atlantic City Convention Center, before 11,748, he challenged Roy Jones Jr, Who’s Who number 4 for the IBF super middleweight title. Jones put him down three times in round 6, and the fight was stopped at 2:58.

The late years 1996 to 2004

On 23 August 1996 in Atlantic City he was knocked down in round 1 by Dana Rosenblatt, then knocked him out in round 4. Rosenblatt won their rematch on a disputed split decision. He lost to Herol Graham in 1997, Aaron Davis in 2001 and Éric Lucas, for the WBC super middleweight title, in 2002. His last fight, on 27 March 2004 in Mashantucket, Connecticut, was a unanimous decision over Tocker Pudwill, his 50th win.

Style, technique and the corner

How he fought

He was all action. Collins described him as hyper, “supercharged with the frantic energy of someone born without brakes”, and Boxing News compared his crowd appeal to Arturo Gatti and Ray Mancini. He threw a lot of punches and took a lot back, and he got up quickly when he was dropped, as he did against Durán.

There were holes. Haugen said in 1988 that he dropped his right hand when he jabbed, and the Garza fight showed what could happen when frustration took over. Rooney says one of his first jobs was to get him boxing rather than brawling.

The corner

Lou Duva was his trainer in 1988, with Dan Duva as promoter. Kevin Rooney was hired after the Mayweather loss and worked alongside Lou Duva in 1990. Rooney was in his corner for the Delé title win and the comeback.

Stories people still tell

1. The halo.

   He trained in a halo brace screwed to his head, and was back in the ring 13 months after the crash.

2. Bleed for This.

   His comeback became the 2016 film Bleed for This, written and directed by Ben Younger, with Miles Teller as Pazienza, Aaron Eckhart as Kevin Rooney and Martin Scorsese as an executive producer.

3. Haugen.

   Three fights, two wins, and a rivalry that, according to The Ring, he still spoke about at his Hall of Fame weekend in 2025.

Legacy

He finished with 50 wins, 30 by knockout, and 10 losses from 60 fights between 1983 and 2004, with major world titles at lightweight and light middleweight. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in June 2025, in the same class as Manny Pacquiao, Who’s Who number 1. Collins summed him up as “the sort of fighter you don’t forget”.