My Favorite Beltway Boxing Bouts -- Bout # 3!

We have reached the top three of My Favorite Beltway Boxing Bouts.

Number three is one we should all remember.

3. Vincent Pettway vs. Simon Brown, April 29, 1995, USAir Arena, Largo, MD

WHY IT MAKES THE LIST: The most famous bout in the countdown headlines the best card in Beltway Boxing history and produces a knockout for the ages.

Honestly, there isn’t a lot more I can say about this bout that hasn’t been said or written about before. The majority of you have seen the knockout and Brown’s reaction to it. The knockout was voted “Knockout of the Year” by most boxing magazines including The Ring and Boxing Digest. The punch also made Ring’s 100 greatest knockouts of all time. And of course, who could forget the unconscious movement by Brown after the punch landed.

The bout was the perfect example of an unwritten creed that Beltway Boxers seemed to have at that time: Don’t fight each other unless it means something. Well, this bout meant everything – not only to the boxers themselves but to the area as well.

I need to talk a lot about the week leading up to the card itself. I was working for our TV show, Boxing Spotlight, and our crew was all over the place covering all the events leading up to the card. In a way, it was a difficult week for me because I had been a fan of Simon throughout his career (my father even taught him in junior high school). Also, I had gotten to know Vincent through his very vocal support of Boxing Spotlight. Now these two warriors were going to be the main event of a very big card.

Unfortunately, as great as the card and this particular bout ended up being, it was a card that wasn’t appreciated by the majority of DC/Baltimore area sports fans at that time. It was a dream bout on a dream card. Only when we look back on the card do fans really appreciate what took place that night.

If you want to read more about the impact of the entire “Beltway Brawl” card, go to the August 2005 archives.

AFTERMATH: The defense would prove to be Pettway's only successful defense of his IBF Junior Middleweight title. Pettway would lose the belt to Paul Vaden by 12th round TKO on August 12, 1995 in Las Vegas in a bout he was leading on all three scorecards going into the final round. Pettway would try again for the IBF and WBC Junior Middleweight titles when he faced Terry Norris on February 24, 1996 in Richmond, VA. The future hall of famer stopped Pettway in the eighth round.

After the Norris loss, Pettway would win four straight against lackluster competition before ending his career on August 31, 2001 at DuBurns Arena in Baltimore with a fifth-round TKO loss to Luis Rosado.

Brown would received two more shots at world titles when he moved up to middleweight. He would lose by unanimous decision to then-WBO Middleweight champ Lonnie Bradley on August 30, 1996 in Reading, PA and get stopped by IBF titleholder Bernard Hopkins in the sixth round on January 31, 1998 in Atlantic City. The Hopkins loss was the first of six in a row that Brown suffered to end his career.

One other note: Between the title bouts, Brown fought for the last time in the Beltway area on September 12, 1997. Brown faced Reuben "Ratman" Bell at the Pikesville Armory. Both fighters were dropped on this occasion and Bell was in control of the bout before having to retire with a bad hand. The bout turned out to be Bell's last -- he was killed five months later.