Vinny Pazienza entered the ring with white stripes painted on his face and left it with blood streaming from a cut.
In between, Pazienza pounded out a unanimous 12-round decision over Roberto Duran that was greeted with as many boos as cheers by a crowd of some 10,000 fans Saturday night at the MGM Grand.Pazienza had to get up from a fifth-round knockdown.
Judge Chuck Giampa scored it 117-113 while Dave Moretti and Jerry Roth each had it 117-112 for Pazienza.
Some ringsiders thought the fight was closer but there was no question that Pazienza, 31, dominated the second half of the fight as Duran, 43, tired.
Pazienza came into the ring wearing a black headband with white stripes painted on both cheeks as some kind of war paint. He removed the band and had the stripes wiped off and then started emotionally but slowly as Duran's vast experience got him off to a good start.
Duran knocked Pazienza down with a right hand at 1:34 of the fifth round. Pazienza got up immediately and took a mandatory 8-count.
Later in the round, the fighter's heads collided and Pazienza suffered a cut above the right eye near the nose while Duran was cut in the corner of the left nose.
Duran's cut didn't bleed much during the remainder of the fight, but blood streamed from Pazienza's cut although it did not seem to bother his vision.
All three judges scored the knockdown round 10-10.
"I had a bad night but I still won," Pazienza said. "It will be a big year for me."
Some people will see the loss as Duran's last hurrah, certainly as a marquee fighter as he has been most of the time since turning pro in 1967. As far as retiring, however, Duran said, "No. I will fight."
Pazienza, perhaps too emotional in the early rounds, calmed down and started taking charge at midpoint as Duran's legs lost their bounce from Pazienza's body punches. Pazienza also had the better of the many exchanges in the closing rounds, including the 12th in which both gave it all they had as the crowd screamed.
The CompuBox computer analysis showed Pazienza landed 232 of 634 punches while Duran landed 195 of 689.
Paziena, who weighed the contract limit of 165 pounds, boosted his record to 30-8-5 with 27 knockouts. It was his seventh victory since he returned to boxing in Dec. 1992 after having suffered a broken neck in a car crash on Nov. 12, 1991.
The fight will put Pazienza in line at a shot for a third world title, although it's not certain who he might meet. He has held the IBF lightweight and WBA welterweight championships.
Duran, 1631/2, had a seven-fight winning streak snapped and lost for the 10th time against 93 victories, 65 by knockouts. The Panamanian has held the world lightweight championship and pieces of the welterweight, junior middleweight and middleweight championships.
The fight was billed as being for the Intercontinetal Boxing Council and International Boxing Organization middleweight titles, both of which are fringe groups and not much weight is given to their titles.