I saw quite a few fights of Verno - but all from year 2000 and onwards. He was considered a veteran already when He fought Kassim Ouma - for the first time - in 2001, but was ranked in top 10 in the world for most of the next 7 years He competed - and He even picked up a world title twice. He had an interesting style, with a lot of movement but also high punching volume and a lot of variety offensively. From the fights I saw, only Paul Williams dominated him in his final career bout. Verno was close to 40 years old at that point and from what He says, He was dealing with tooth infection on top of that. I also believe He got a rough end of the stick against Ike Quartey - and while He lost twice to Kassim Ouma, He was very competitive and I was impressed in how close He was to matching Ouma's relentless pace, only falling off at the end. There's an interesting little fact about Verno which stuck in my mind. In late portions of his career, He was trained by very young coach named Trevor Wittman - who's 5 years younger than Verno himself and was 14 years old when Verno was making his pro debut. Not sure how familiar Wittman is to boxing public, but He's highly respected MMA coach these days, running one of the top MMA camps with multiple UFC champions. That's my little introduction to late career Verno Phillips - but his most successful decade in the sport was in the 90s. I only now realised He took undefeated record of Julio Cesar Vasquez, in Argentina - in 1991 - and was only guy to beat Vasquez before He faced Pernell Whittaker. There's nearly 17 year gap from Verno's win over Vasquez to his title winning effort against Cory Spinks in 2008. Very impressive longevity - particulary for a fighter who seems to be a bit forgotten. Does anyone have any thoughts on Verno? Does He deserve more respect? Was He overachiever, or rather underachiever? Thank You!
I think Vince is certainly the more popular of the two Phillipses - why is that is interesting question in itself. The two competed in about the same time - 1988 - 2008 for Verno, 1989 - 2007 for Vince - and while both had good longevity and were featured on TV a lot even in their later days, it seems that Verno was able to stay competitive on the high level for much longer and has more depth to his resume in result. Yet, it seems that it's Vince that people still talk about, while Verno is rarely mentioned. I wonder how many of Verno's fights through the 90s were televised in United States? Maybe He was away from the American public's eyes for most of his prime?
Vince definitely had more exposure to the boxing public via more televised fights. And when he took Kostya Tszyu’s zero, that was a big deal. Tszyu was considered an almost nuclear force at that time and Phillips sparked him. That was the 1997 Ring Magazine upset of the year. Not sure Verno ever had a win of that magnitude. I used to see Vince occasionally at fights in and around my area when I was taking boxers to shows. He mostly fought out West but was from Pensacola, Florida, so he came up through our amateur circuit (although before I got involved) and when he was home he would often attend to support fighters from his hometown gym — very approachable and came across as a genuine nice guy. Also attended some of the pro shows in the area. Verno is a cool name, though. Rugged guy as I recall.
ESPN Friday Night Fights attraction from what I can remember, I liked him, real tough guy, not the most skilled but a tough guy, I had no idea Wittman trained him... Wittman is amazing.
I've been enjoying watching a number of Verno's fights lately. Watched and scored his fights with Ike Quartey, Julian Jackson, Lupe Aquino and the second fight with Santos Cardona. Nice fighter and like you mentioned, his high punch volume makes good fights.
I was also surprised to notice young Wittman with Verno. I think it's a bit unfortunete that "We" - as a boxing community - lost him to the MMA world. For him to gain respect of well established champion like Verno, being in his 20s - He must've had something really special about him. If You'll find time, both Ouma fights are also worth a watch. First one was better action fight, but both - as You can imagine - were fought in very good pace and were tactically interesting. Would You say that Verno was much better fighter in the 90s? Like I wrote earlier, I only saw the fight from the later stage of his career.
Verno was a good fighter. I was ringside when he beat Cory Spinks for the IBFbtitle at 154. One interesting thing about Phillips was he didn't really use his hab much at all or straight punches for that matter. His right hand was almost always looping or overhand instead of Straight. He was a tough guy as well and damn near beat Ike Quartey on HBO. He had Ike badly hurt by a left hook.
Haven´t seen the fight but I think I read in the Boxing News that Vernon gave the undefeated Vazquez his toughest fight till that point until being dropped with the Argentinean hitting him whilst down leading to a disqualification win. He was undefeated in 10 fights in Argentina which is pretty unusual for a then unknown American fighter. Big Vernon fan. Was a little hot and cold though. Held the WBO title when it wasn´t considered very prestigious. Beat veterans in Aquino,Cardona, looked brilliant in stopping Jaime Llanes before losing to an old Gianfranco Rosi. Became a no contest because Rosi failed a drug test but lost to unheralded Paul Jones in a shocking defeat. Turned his career around and was chuffed he picked up 2 further World titles. Robbed against Quartey. Good solid fighter This content is protected
