Another American Star? What do you think about Vernon Paris?

Excellent win for Paris tonight. he is young but seems to have matured alot in the time up to this last fight. He was an underdog going into this fight. Much props to him. We will see what he has for the next bout.

 

Vernon Paris TKO7 Tim Coleman
Junior welterweight
Records: Paris (25-0, 15 KOs); Coleman (19-2, 5 KOs)

Rafael's remark: Talk about bad blood. They were supposed to meet in January on the undercard of the Timothy Bradley Jr.-Devon Alexander undercard, but Coleman withdrew because of a shoulder injury. When the fight was rescheduled, these guys were absolutely vicious toward each other during the pre-fight buildup, so much so that they even got into a scuffle in the hotel lobby the day before the fight when Coleman took a swing at Paris after they ran into each other. They were kicked out of the Chumash Casino Resort for the confrontation and had to stay at different hotels away from the fight property. They also participated in separate weigh-ins to prevent another scuffle before they were actually supposed to punch each other in the face. They had trash talked each other on Facebook leading up to the fight and Coleman went so far as to say that he hoped Paris would be "the first man I beat to death in the ring." Coleman, 27, of Baltimore, had talked the talk, but when it came time to put the promotion and harsh words aside and get into the ring and fight, he could not walk the walk the way Paris, 23, of Detroit, did.

In the second round, Coleman landed a right hand that connected and wobbled Paris enough that he had to touch his gloves to the canvas to steady himself, forcing referee Dan Stell to rule it a knockdown, although Paris did not seem hurt. They both have skills and were going at each other in a very interesting fight that Coleman seemed to have a slight edge in until Paris took over in the sixth round, landing more power shots in the round (25) than Coleman threw (20). He rattled Coleman badly with a series of head shots and then sent him to his knees with a left hand to the body with about 30 seconds left in the round. Paris trapped Coleman in a corner and ripped another left hook to the body that dropped for the second time. He made it to his feet, took a deep breath and, fortunately, the bell rang to end the round. But he was clearly still feeling the shots when the seventh round began and 27 seconds into the round, Paris dug yet another left hook to the body. Coleman dropped to his knees again and Stell immediately waived it off.

This is an excellent victory for Paris, whose survived a shooting and stabbing outside the ring, but if he can keep his life together, he has a chance to do something in boxing. This victory may have set him on his way.

 

Zab Judah next?