Unbeaten super lightweight Vernon Paris boxes with a bullet an inch from his spine Kevin Iole

Unbeaten super lightweight Vernon Paris boxes with a bullet an inch from his spine

By Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports Mar 22, 12:25 am EDT

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Vernon Paris (left) is considered one of boxing's rising stars and was signed by Don King in 2011.
Carlos Baeza/BoxinginLasVegas.com

Unbeaten boxer Vernon Paris carries two bullets with him everywhere, a sobering reminder of how quickly a bad decision can turn into a life-threatening moment. He has no choice because the bullets are lodged in his groin and back, the latter so close to his spinal cord doctors won’t remove it.
A third bullet hit him squarely in the back of the head that day in 2006. Paris hit the ground in the back of an old, abandoned house on Detroit’s west side. He was disoriented, but looked up at the sky and realized he was still alive.
His first thoughts weren’t of fear, or dread, about the consequences of being shot multiple times. Rather, the promising young boxer was angry he hadn’t listened to his father.

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“The first thing that popped into my head was, ‘Pops just told me not to hang with these people,’ ” he said. “He had just told me, and then I let them get me. I let them get me. I was hit in the back of the head, and I thought I was done, and I said to myself, ‘I should have listened to Pops.’ ”

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Paris, 24, has survived a tumultuous life to make it to a point where, on Saturday in Brooklyn, N.Y., on the NBC Sports Network, he’ll fight ex-champion Zab Judah in a 12-round bout for the No. 1 contender’s spot at super lightweight.
It’s been quite a career. Paris is 26-0 with 15 knockouts and three no contests, moving him to within a win over Judah from getting a shot at the International Boxing Federation 140-pound title.
Carlos Llinas, who signed him to a promotional contract on the boxer’s 18th birthday, is convinced Paris’ indomitable will to win will lead him to a title. Llinas calls Paris his “Miracle Man,” and said every time he hears Paris speak, he thinks of some crazy episode or another from his life.
It’s a movie, waiting to be told, though it’s up to Paris now to give it the happy ending.
“You know, Vernon is a talented guy and if he came from different circumstances and had that powerful promoter and the connected people around him taking care of him, he’d already have a championship and done who knows what in boxing,” Llinas said. “We’ve had some very big fights, fighting on national TV and winning, and now we’re fighting to be No. 1 in the world.
“But the lows this kid has had, man. The lows were like nothing I’ve ever seen, or could imagined. Forget about getting close to getting the title, I can’t believe that Vernon is still here and talking to you today. That’s as big of a miracle as anything.”

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It was July 25, 2006, and Paris was 18 years old. He was an unbeaten boxer with dreams of glory that seemed about to die with him in the back of a crumbling home in one of the country’s most notorious neighborhoods.
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Paris had talent – lots of it – but there had always been questions about his dedication and commitment. He lived in one of the most crime-ridden areas in the country, where shootings are a way of life, and the police seemed powerless to stop it.

Llinas signed him amid a slew of skepticism.
“When I signed him, so many people came up to me and said, ‘Why would you do that? He’s going to be dead or in a jail cell in six months,’ ” Llinas said.