Paul Pender

Paul Pender, was an American boxer and firefighter from Massachusetts who held the World Middleweight Championship.

Early life

Pender was born in the Boston suburb of Brookline, Massachusetts, the son of William and Anna Pender. A 1949 graduate of Brookline High School, Pender was recruited as an all American football player at Michigan State University and Penn State, but instead, chose to enter professional boxing, while attending Staley College. Although a champion, he regarded boxing as his second job and being a Brookline firefighter his first. As an amateur, he won the New England welterweight championship.
Pender was a member of the United States Marine Corps.

Professional career

In 1959, the National Boxing Association withdrew its recognition of Sugar Ray Robinson as middleweight champion. Gene Fullmer and Carmen Basilio fought for the vacant NBA title, and Fullmer won. Pender beat Robinson, one of the greatest fighters of all time, for the disputed middleweight championship title. He won by split decision in 15 rounds. Pender fought Robinson once again to defend his title and went on to beat him by split decision.
He fought a set of three matches against English boxer Terry Downes, of which only the third went the full distance. He won the first and the third bout, but the last would prove to be the only fight of that year for Pender and the last of his career. The New York Boxing Commission stripped Pender of his title for not defending it against Dick Tiger. Pender sued and won on appeal.
His career was hampered by his brittle hands. He retired May 7, 1963 as the current world middleweight champion.
His career record was 40 wins, 6 losses, and 2 draws.

Death

He died in Bedford, Massachusetts on January 12, 2003, at the Veterans Administration Hospital.

Professional boxing record

No.	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round	Date	Location	Notes
48	Win		Terry Downes	UD	15	Apr 7, 1962	Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.	Won NYSAC and The Ring middleweight titles
47	Loss	39–6–2	Terry Downes	RTD	9	Jul 11, 1961	Empire Pool, Wembley, London, England	Lost NYSAC and The Ring middleweight titles
46	Win	39–5–2	Carmen Basilio	UD	15	Apr 22, 1961	Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.	Retained NYSAC and The Ring middleweight titles
45	Win	38–5–2	Terry Downes	TKO	9	Jan 14, 1961	Arena, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.	Retained NYSAC and The Ring middleweight titles
44	Win	37–5–2	Sugar Ray Robinson	SD	15	Jun 10, 1960	Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.	Retained NYSAC and The Ring middleweight titles
43	Win	36–5–2	Sugar Ray Robinson	SD	15	Jan 22, 1960	Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.	Won NYSAC and The Ring middleweight titles
42	Win	35–5–2	Gene Hamilton	UD	10	Dec 14, 1959	Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
41	Win	34–5–2	Jackson Brown	UD	12	Aug 17, 1959	Pierce Memorial Field, East Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.	Won USA New England middleweight title
40	Win	33–5–2	Ralph Tiger Jones	UD	10	Mar 17, 1959	Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
39	Win	32–5–2	Joe Shaw	TKO	5	Feb 16, 1959	Arcadia Ballroom, Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.
38	Win	31–5–2	Young Beau Jack	DQ	3	Feb 9, 1959	Arcadia Ballroom, Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.	Jack was DQ'd after he knocked Pender out and proceeded to attack him while unconscious on the canvas
37	Win	30–5–2	Joe Gomes	TKO	6	Jan 5, 1959	Rhode Island Auditorium, Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.	Fight stopped on cuts
36	Win	29–5–2	Willie Kid Johnson	TKO	3	Dec 22, 1958	Arcadia Ballroom, Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.
35	Win	28–5–2	Pete Adams	TKO	4	Dec 15, 1958	Arena, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
34	Win	27–5–2	Jackson Brown	TKO	3	Nov 17, 1958	Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
33	Win	26–5–2	Jimmy Skinner	UD	10	Dec 4, 1956	Mechanics Building, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
32	Loss	25–5–2	Gene Fullmer	UD	10	Feb 14, 1955	Eastern Parkway Arena, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, U.S.
31	Win	25–4–2	Freddie Mack	TKO	4	Jan 6, 1955	Mechanics Building, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
30	Win	24–4–2	Ted Olla	SD	10	Dec 20, 1954	Eastern Parkway Arena, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, U.S.
29	Win	23–4–2	Larry Villeneuve	UD	10	Aug 3, 1954	Arena, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
28	Loss	22–4–2	Jimmy Beau	TKO	5	Mar 31, 1952	Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
27	Win	22–3–2	Otis Graham	UD	10	Oct 1, 1951	Mechanics Building, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
26	Loss	21–3–2	Gene Hairston	KO	3	Apr 30, 1951	Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
25	Draw	21–2–2	Joe Rindone	PTS	10	Mar 12, 1951	Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
24	Loss	21–2–1	Joe Rindone	UD	10	Jan 22, 1951	Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
23	Win	21–1–1	Norman Hayes	KO	7	Jan 8, 1951	Mechanics Building, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
22	Loss	20–1–1	Norman Hayes	UD	10	Dec 11, 1950	Mechanics Building, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
21	Win	20–0–1	Harold Sampson	TKO	3	Nov 27, 1950	Mechanics Building, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
20	Win	19–0–1	Norman Horton	KO	2	Nov 13, 1950	Mechanics Building, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
19	Win	18–0–1	Ernie Durando	UD	10	Oct 23, 1950	Arena, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
18	Win	17–0–1	Roy Wouters	UD	10	Oct 9, 1950	Miners Forum, Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada
17	Win	16–0–1	Bobby James	UD	10	Sep 25, 1950	Arena, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
16	Win	15–0–1	Al Couture	TKO	7	Jun 22, 1950	Exposition Building, Portland, Maine, U.S.
15	Win	14–0–1	Charley Dodson	UD	10	May 3, 1950	Exposition Building, Portland, Maine, U.S.
14	Win	13–0–1	Leon Brown	TKO	5	Mar 27, 1950	Rhode Island Auditorium, Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.
13	Win	12–0–1	Sonny Horne	UD	10	Jan 23, 1950	Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
12	Draw	11–0–1	Bill Daley	PTS	10	Dec 19, 1949	Mechanics Building, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
11	Win	11–0	Bill Daley	UD	8	Oct 21, 1949	Mechanics Building, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
10	Win	10–0	Jose Contreras	KO	2	Oct 5, 1949	Mechanics Hall, Worcester, Massachusetts, U.S.
9	Win	9–0	Mike Gillo	PTS	6	Sep 26, 1949	Arena, New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.
8	Win	8–0	Ted Brassley	TKO	3	Sep 12, 1949	Mechanics Building, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
7	Win	7–0	Eddie Richardson	KO	1	Jun 9, 1949	Candlelite Stadium, Bridgeport, Connecticut, U.S.
6	Win	6–0	Mike Saad	UD	6	May 2, 1949	Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
5	Win	5–0	Johnny Rice	KO	1	Apr 11, 1949	Arena, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
4	Win	4–0	George Meyers	KO	3	Mar 28, 1949	Arena, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
3	Win	3–0	Frank Theodore	KO	2	Mar 3, 1949	Boston Garden, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
2	Win	2–0	Mickey Lane	KO	2	Feb 17, 1949	Mechanics Building, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
1	Win	1–0	Paul Williams	KO	1	Jan 28, 1949	Mechanics Building, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.