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Hello, Downtown!
Paul “The Ultimate” Vaden’s life story is one worth recalling and updating every so often.
Twenty-five years ago, I helped Vaden write an article for Men’s Health about a seminal event in his boxing career. The same day the magazine story came out, Vaden appeared on CBS’s The Early Show. He talked with Bryant Gumbel about knocking out another boxer in the ring. That boxer, Stephan Johnson, died two weeks after the fight.
Before that fatal fight, Vaden had distinguished himself as the only native San Diegan to win a professional world boxing championship. In 1995, he won the IBF light middleweight title.
After Johnson died, Vaden’s guilt was crushing. He became mired in depression and hypochondria. Eventually, he regained the mental mindset to fight one more time. He lost. But in getting back in the ring he boxed his way back to life.
“I fought that fight not to win or lose, but to see if I was going to live or die,” Vaden told me in 2020. “I discovered it wasn’t my time to die.”
No, there was plenty more living to do.
His “Answer The Bell” program, which became a book, was developed from boxing terminology and encouraged people to respond to adversity and approach life with a champion’s mindset.
He became a public speaker, advising groups and working individually with corporate CEOs.
In 2017, the short documentary Vaden Versus premiered at the San Diego Hall of Champions. That was followed by a long list of accolades and community involvement. He served on the board of the National Conflict Resolution Center and was the San Diego Chapter President of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (now renamed Breakthrough T1D).
On April 26, 2026, Vaden was inducted into the National Boxing Hall of Fame.
He recently reflected on the past quarter of a century.
“Twenty-five years ago, I was still learning who Paul ‘The Ultimate’ Vaden was without boxing,” he said. “I’d spent most of my life learning how to become a champion, but the greater lesson was discovering what to do with those championship tools when the bell stopped ringing.”
He learned that resilience, preparation and answering the bell aren’t boxing principles—they’re life principles.
“Today, I’m grateful for what boxing gave me,” Vaden said. “But even more grateful that I’ve been able to use it in Corporate America, my community and in helping others.”
Ron Donoho
Downtown News newsletter host
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