Fight Forum - MMA - UFC - Boxing - K1 - EliteXC - View Single Post - Vernon Paris Stabbed by Attacker, Recovering

Gygax · 05-05-2008, 12:26 PM

Here's a little more on the story from the Detroit Free Press.

Quote:

Leading Detroit fighter Vernon (Ice Man) Paris was recovering in the hospital Sunday from a major stab wound to the back suffered in an altercation in Detroit Saturday less than two years after he was shot three times by a group of young men who attempted to kidnap him.

Paris, 20, an exciting lightweight/junior welterweight prospect with an unbeaten record (18-0, 12 KOs, one no-contest), was attacked by a man and woman who live above him and his pregnant girlfriend in a multilevel home in Detroit, Carlos Llinas, Paris' manager, said on Sunday. Paris was taken to Henry Ford Hospital, where he underwent several hours of surgery, Llinas said.

According to Llinas, the stabbing occurred after Paris asked the woman to stop making noise after she repeatedly knocked at a door on the first floor of the residence.

"They started arguing and 15 minutes later, Vernon answered his door and a guy and women started wailing on him," Llinas said. "Vernon knocked the guy out and was standing over him when the woman came from behind and began stabbing him with an eight-inch knife while the guy got up and held him. Vernon was stabbed once hard -- the others were like scratches, one to his neck."

Llinas said he'd spoken to police and that, as far as he knew, the pair responsible for Paris' injuries had left the scene of the incident before police arrived and were still at large.

Llinas visited Paris on Sunday at Henry Ford.

"He seems to be doing a lot better today," Llinas said. "It's like déjÀ vu -- he's a cat with nine lives who has used two or three of them."

State boxing commissioner Al Lowe said he was called with the news Saturday.

"I heard he was stabbed once and then someone else said five times," Lowe said. "I love the heck out of him, but he needs to distance himself from some of his problems. We're praying for him."

In July 2006, Paris, then 18, was shot twice in the back and once in the upper leg after four men lured him into an abandoned house, where they attempted to kill him and roll him up in a piece of carpet. Although badly wounded, Paris managed to fight his way clear and flee. No charges were ever brought against the men, whom Paris said he knew.

"When I first saw Vernon on Saturday, he was on a morphine drip," Llinas said. "He'd lost a lot of blood. Like I said after he was shot, I don't care if he ever fights again, just as long as the kid is OK."

Paris, who defeated Nasser Athumani by unanimous decision at the Ford Community and Arts Center in Dearborn on Feb. 22 in his last fight, is currently serving a 90-day suspension by the state for failing a urine test after a bout in 2006.