Paul "The Ultimate" Vaden (born December 29, 1967 San Diego, California) is a former professional boxer. Vaden held the International Boxing Federation junior middleweight world championship from August 12, 1995 to December 16, 1995. Vaden compiled a professional record of 29–3 with 16 knockouts. Vaden remains the only native of San Diego to become a professional world boxing champion. He was inducted into the West Coast Boxing Hall Of Fame in 2017.^[53] As of 2022 he works for a law firm in San Diego.

Vaden is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in San Diego. He started boxing in 1976. He played high school varsity basketball.

Throughout his boxing career he was known as "Kid Ultimate".

Vaden had a highly accomplished amateur career, compiling an outstanding amateur record of 327–10. In 1990, Vaden became the United States national amateur light middleweight champion. (Link to – United States national amateur boxing light middleweight champions)

He was also a bronze medal winner in the 71 kg (156 lbs) division at the 1990 Goodwill Games. Vaden was a top candidate to make the 1992 U.S. Olympic team. Vaden instead decided to turn professional,citing dissatisfaction with amateur boxing's newly implemented scoring system and the sport's political nature as his primary reasons. He almost made the 1988 U.S. Olympic team team despite taking a long break from the sport. He beat Chris Byrd three times in amateur boxing matches. Byrd held the IBF and WBO world heavyweight championships as a professional boxer.Vaden defeated 1992 U.S. Olympian Raúl Márquez in an amateur boxing match.

Vaden, now campaigning as "The Ultimate", turned professional on April 5, 1991 and began his career with 18 consecutive wins.

On March 25, 1994 he won the IBF Inter-Continental junior middleweight title with a 12-round unanimous decision over veteran John Montes.

He defeated undefated Reuben Bell on May 16, 1995 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

On August 12, 1995 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas as a decided underdog, Vaden defeated Vincent Pettway by 12th round technical knockout to win Pettway's IBF junior middleweight world title. Pettway built an early lead but faded as the fight went on. Vaden came on strong in the later rounds. The referee, Richard Steele, stopped the fight with 27 seconds left in the 12th round.At the time of the stoppage,Vaden was behind on one point on all three judges scorecards despite appearing to be winning the fight to most ringsiders. Vaden's boxing match against Pettway was the main event on a boxing card televised by Showtime. It took place one week before the Mike Tyson vs.Peter McNeeley pay per view telecast.

On December 16, 1995 at the Spectrum in Philadelphia, Vaden met WBC light-middleweight champion Terry Norris in a title unification bout. The pre-fight build-up was notable for the animosity displayed between the two fighters. Vaden vs.Norris was televised on prime time on FOX as part of the undercard of the Mike Tyson vs. Buster Mathis Jr. heavyweight match. Norris won a twelve round decision to claim Vaden's IBF world title. Vaden rebounded from his loss to Norris by defeating undefeated Clem Tucker Jr. at the The Mirage in Las Vegas on May 18, 1996.

He competed at the world famous Madison Square Garden on June 19, 1999 against Jorge Luis Valdo and won. On November 20, 1999 at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Vaden won the vacant USBA junior middleweight title by knocking out Stephan Johnson in the 10th round.Johnson never regained consciousness and died fifteen days later. Vaden retired shortly after the Johnson fight.

He was on The Early Show in 2001 with Bryant Gumbel where they discussed what happened in his fight with Johnson. Johnson's fiance was also on the program.

He was inducted into the Breitbard Hall of Fame in 2016.

The Breitbard Hall of Fame is on the main concourse of the Western Metal Supply Company Building.

The Breitbard Hall of Fame was established in 1953 by Robert Breitbard.It

honors athletes who have excelled athletically in San Diego or who are native San Diegans that have achieved athletic fame elsewhere.^[43]

Vaden has become a nationally prominent motivational speaker and a corporate mentor who also serves on the boards of the local Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the National Conflict Resolution Center.

Vaden authored the book "Answer the Bell: Inventing Your Life as a Champion."

It was published in 2013.

The book is available for sale on Paul Vaden's website 'answerthebell.com'.

The book was published by Dandelion Enterprises.

Amazon.com gives a synopsis of the book on their website:

Matthew E. O'Neil, the #1 ranked editor and reporter for Everipedia, contacted Paul Vaden by phone in March 2020. Vaden spoke about his fond memories of his amateur career and recognized his victory of Pettway as being a critical win as it garnered him a world title. O'Neil was on a February 2020 episode of The Grueling Truth. He was also on AkHi TV in 2020; it is based out of New York City.^[49]