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THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, June 19, 2020 Page 13 oral aide also tipped his hat to former City Engineer Jack Russell, who did yeoman’s work in planning the structure, which still stands today. E v er y one ROSENBLATT-PAZIENZA II: Dana Rosenblatt avenged his first (and only) loss of his career with a 12-round decision over Vinny Pazienza in 1999. (Courtesy Photo) gone the distance, including a unanimous decision loss to the legendary Roberto Duran a year earlier. Just four months earlier, in his last fight, LeBlanc had also gone the distance, 10 rounds, in a very close decision loss to an up-and-coming brawler who would later figure largely in Rosenblatt’s career – Vinny Pazienza – at Foxwoods. So, LeBlanc was no handpicked foil to make sure Rosenblatt looked good in front of the home crowd. It sure looked like a battle would ensue, and it did. Rosenblatt the winner in front of 7,000 fans Fighting in the main event, Rosenblatt and LeBlanc went toe-to-toe and entertained the crowd throughout, trading punches all night. In the end, it was another fight that went the distance for LeBlanc, but another unanimous decision loss, this time to Rosenblatt, the literal hometown hero, who raised his gloves in victory before 7,000 cheering fans. “What a fantastic event! Everyone who participated in the planning…all did a great job,” recalled Keith Swerdlick, who served as top staff member in Mayor Lucey’s office. Swerdlick, who now resides in Derry, Northern Ireland, was involved in “A-Z planning for the fundraising event” and he checked in with The Advocate after reading last week’s Part One of this series. He reminded us that Modern Continental donated the majority of the materials, including the bricks, for the fieldhouse project and that many other businesses in Malden chipped in with either financial or in-kind donations. “It was truly a community effort, starting with Malden’s own, Dana Rosenblatt,” Swerdlick said. “It was truly a remarkable undertaking, capped by a memorable night.” The former maywas a winner that night, from Rosenblatt to the many fans he thrilled and new ones he made that night, to the athletes of Malden High, who to this day, 26 years later, reap the benefits of using the now-named Domenic Fermano Fieldhouse. A plaque signifying Rosenblatt’s outdoor boxing extravaganza that night is proudly displayed at the stadium today. Hometown win a major stepping stone as Malden boxer signed with Top Rank’s Arum From that day onward, the hometown victory appeared a major stepping stone for Rosenblatt, as bigger venues and tougher opponents followed. In another major move, Rosenblatt took a bigger step, joining the fold of legendary Top Rank Boxing promoter Bob Arum. Three months after the Malden fight, on Dec. 14, 1994, he fought for the first time in his career at another “hometown” bout, headlining a Top Rank/Bob Arum card at the Boston Garden. Rosenblatt (22-0) did not disappoint, when he won by decision when opponent Frank Savannah did not answer the bell to return to the fight in Round Eight, thus awarding the Malden fighter his second belt, the WBC Continental Americas Middleweight Championship. Rosenblatt kept fighting solid opponents in 1995 – and kept winning. He successfully defended his belt three times, including his first fight in the “Disneyland” of Boxing, Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas, Nev. He knocked out Chad Parker in the first round on May 6, 1995. Rosenblatt’s momentum continued as he soared to 28-0 with wins over Troy Williams in Orleans in August that year, then a decision over Floyd Williams at the Garden in October. Six months later he won his third title belt, the World Boxing Union (WBU) middleweight title, with an impressive, second-round knockout of former Olympic Gold Medalist Howard Davis Jr. at the TD Garden. It seemed the sky was the limit for Rosenblatt and the newest “biggest fight of his career” loomed for the 24-year-old Malden fighter and another title shot, this time against the 33-yearold Rhode Island-based Vinny “The Pazmanian Devil” Pazienza. Rosenblatt-Pazienza in “The Neighborhood War” This fight was for the WBU Super Middleweight Title and was a Top Rank bout at Bally’s in Atlantic City, being broadcast nationally on USA Network. Many saw Rosenblatt, the current WBU Middleweight Champion, as the young up-and-comer, the man who might replace Pazienza as “the best fighter from New England,” according to Boxing Monthly, It was billed as “The Neighborhood War,” meaning an intra-New England battle. This irritated Pazienza to no end, as he regarded all his fights of international note, as he had won 40 fights (40-6) and multiple titles to date. Never a man of few words, Pazienza stoked the flames with a constant stream of derogatory remarks thrown Rosenblatt’s way, personalizing the matchup and declaring his superiority in every way. The fight certainly didn’t start that way as Rosenblatt took some hits himself, but essentially battered Pazienza with combos and other punches, busting up Pazienza’s nose in the second round and opening cuts above his eyes in the third. It all changed in the fateful fourth round. Entering Round Four, Rosenblatt had shut out Pazienza on all three of the judges’ scorecards. With just under a minute to go in the fourth round, Pazienza leaned forward, bent down at the waist, facedown and not even looking, and unloaded a big overhand right that landed square on the side of Rosenblatt’s face. For the first time in his career, Rosenblatt crashed down to the canvas. The crowd roared, but Rosenblatt got up, but appeared shaken and uneasy on his feet. Pazienza charged in and began unloading combos to the body and head as Rosenblatt backed up into the ropes. A big left hook snapped back his head, and the ref moved in, waving his hands to stop the fight. The frenzied Pazienza apparently didn’t register the sign and kept throwing haymakers, one catching the ref Tony Orlando in the face and sending him to the canvas, a wild scene, played out on national television, for sure. First loss for Rosenblatt and a costly one According to a Boxing Monthly story at the time, Rosenblatt “was gracious in defeat,” saying, “He’s [Pazienza] the better man tonight. There’s no excuses – he’s the better man tonight. He used his experience and I give him a LEGACY: Dana Rosenblatt’s plaque on display at Macdonald Stadium. lot of credit.” Despite the vitriol before the match, Pazienza did congratulate the Malden fighter after the match for a tough fight, and they parted ways. It seemed destined that the two would fight again, though the rematch, won by Rosenblatt, did not come until over three years later, in November of 1999. Rosenblatt would go on to beat Pazienza in their rematch via a split decision. In doing so he won the vacant IBO Super Middleweight Championship. In the interim, Rosenblatt was beset by injuries, which dealt him setbacks in both training and competing in the ring. He was limited to just one fight in all of 1997, a decision over Glenwood Brown in which he broke his hand, in January at The Roxy in Boston to go to 23-1. It was almost as if he was jinxed since the Pazienza bout four and a half months earlier. Rosenblatt wanted to come back and dominate in his next shot in the ring, but the fractured hand was a giant stop sign. Injury shelved Malden fighter 15 months The Malden fighter tried to come back as soon as possible, but the broken hand took quite a while to properly heal, shelving Rosenblatt for 15 months. Before the Pazienza fight there had been talk of an upward spiral for Rosenblatt, more fights in Las Vegas – and even a possible matchup with top-ranked super middleweight Oscar De La Hoya. According to Bernard Fernandez, writing in “The Sweet Science” in a 2018 remembrance, “In the September 1995 issue of The Ring, Arum predicted that the day would come, a few years down the road, when fight fans would want nothing so much as a matchup of Oscar De La Hoya, by then filled out to a robust 160 pounds and well on his way to his stated goal of world championships in six weight divisions, and Rosenblatt.” “The dream fight for the biggest money of all time is Oscar and Rosenblatt,” Arum was quoted as saying. “That’s what I think of when I go to sleep at night.” However, the combination of the TKO loss to Pazienza and the untimely hand injury put the brakes on those projections on Rosenblatt’s future. Bigtime future fights never materialized “My whole life would have been different,” Rosenblatt said in 2018 in “The Sweet Science” of how his career, which went well for the most part but never reached the threshold of greatness, would now be regarded were it not for the loss to Pazienza. “I’ll take boxing first. After Pazienza, I probably would have fought (Sugar Ray) Leonard, before Leonard fought (Hector) Camacho. Bob (Arum) was promising Leonard. I would have made some money, maybe a million bucks, and, really, that wasn’t the Sugar Ray we all remember. Camacho proved that. I would have knocked out Leonard because he was done.” The lights got brighter for Rosenblatt in 1998, as picked up the pace, returned to the ring and won four fights. He improved to 32-1 and capped the year with an impressive win over former junior lightweight champ Terry Norris (47-7) in Foxwoods on Sept. 25, 1998, where he was awarded what would turn out to be the last belt of his career, the IBO World Super Middleweight Title. Rosenblatt won by unanimous decision despite Norris being awarded the last four rounds on all three judges’ scorecards. Rosenblatt scored early by connecting on his trademark left hooks, when Norris waded in on the Malden southpaw’s jabs. “I had an idea I could hurt him with the jab,” Rosenblatt said in Associated Press (AP) story on the fight. “At the end of the fight, Terry was just making his last stand.” In the ninth round, Rosenblatt seemed to run out of gas, according to the AP account. At the end of Round 11, Rosenblatt faltered, but managed to stay on his feet. Both fighters were gassed in Round 12, but SPORTS | SEE PAGE 15

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