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Boxing is simple compared to what Sammy Vasquez has been through

Sammy Vasquez, who served two tours of duty in Iraq, fights Wale Omotoso on Sunday at the MGM Grand Garden. (Stephanie Trapp/Showtime)

LAS VEGAS -- Sammy Vasquez will face Wale Omotose on Sunday at the MGM Grand Garden in a welterweight bout that will be televised on CBS. As it happens, Omotoso's nickname is "Lucky Boy," which, if it weren't taken, probably should be Vasquez's nickname.

Vasquez is a veteran of two military tours in Iraq, and is well aware how fortunate he is to have been sitting in the Mayweather Boxing Club discussing his career and an upcoming bout. The Pittsburgh native was a sophomore in high school when he watched the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. He dreamed of becoming an anesthesiologist, but his focus shifted after that day.

He was overcome with emotion and determined to do something, anything, to help his country. He graduated high school in 2004, and he joined the National Guard. It wasn't long before he not only found himself in Habbaniyah, Iraq, but also feeling extremely fortunate to have survived an attack.

A bullet whizzed past his ear, hit the turret behind him and deflected into the air. That experience, and many others like it, made boxing look simple by comparison.

Vasquez is 18-0 with 13 knockouts, and hopes to one day fight for the world title. Boxing is one of the most difficult sports in the world, but it's a breeze for Vasquez compared to service in Iraq.

"I'm going to fight on Sunday and win or lose, and I believe it's going to be a win, but whatever, I know I'm going to walk out of that ring and then get on a plane and go home, and go on with my life," said Vasquez, who got started in boxing as a young boy at his father's suggestion because he was being bullied. "Over there, you never knew what would happen. You never could relax. The hours were incredible, sometimes 18, 20 hours a day. People you served with and worked with would die and when you'd wake up, it was hard not to wonder, 'OK, is it my time now?' It put a lot of things into perspective for me."

Sammy Vasquez is 18-0 with 13 knockouts. (CBS courtesy photo)
Sammy Vasquez is 18-0 with 13 knockouts. (CBS courtesy photo)

Vasquez is hardly a household name and, despite his glittery record, still has much to prove. He hasn't faced difficult opposition. Omotoso, who is 25-1 with 21 knockouts, is by far the most accomplished fighter he's faced.

But Vasquez has his supporters who believe he can become a big-time success. His former promoter, ex-heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, told a Pittsburgh newspaper last year he had high hopes for Vasquez.

Listen, if Sammy starts moving his head after he throws combos and going to other angles, I guarantee you he can be world champion. I'd also like to see him study his opponents more and to watch more video on them. If he does that and moves his head more and goes to another area after he throws his great combinations, the sky's the limit.

He can think of a world championship now and at least believe it has a chance to become a reality. When he was in Iraq, he couldn't think of a thing other than surviving the day.

Once he arrived for his first tour, he was assigned to a unit known as the Quick Reaction Force team. When a soldier was killed in the field, the QRF team's job was to secure the area and collect sensitive items the government didn't want to fall into enemy hands.

One day, a soldier stepped on a land mine and, in Vasquez's words, "was blown to bits." His QRF team was sent to the area to secure it, but it was in the middle of the open desert. There was nothing to protect them.

"We're waiting on the mortuary team to come out [to claim the body] and we're picking up the things they didn't want the Iraqis to get and we're putting them into garbage bags," Vasquez said. "All of a sudden, we were getting fired at: 'Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.' We were getting ambushed and we were out there exposed and vulnerable. That's when it started to get real, for sure.

"I know what I signed up for and I knew what I was there to do. But at least for me, it wasn't until I went through that that became real. It's at that moment you know it's life and death and that this is how it is over here. It's a horrible thing to see, and it's nothing you want to see, but you can't dwell on it. We're a team and we work together. In that moment, as bad as you feel about what happened, you have to do your job because we all protect each other and you don't want that to happen to anyone else."

A big part of what he's doing now is to try to use his experiences for good. He is an anti-bullying crusader, and speaks both to victims of bullying as well as occasionally the bullies themselves.

And he wants to bring a championship to his hometown, that has a rich boxing history with legendary fighters like Billy Conn, Fritzie Zivic and Charley Burley but not many recently.

He'll never forget his military experience, and he speaks about it if asked, but his fervent wish is to be known as a champion rather than the boxer who served in the military.

"I just want to go out there Sunday in this fight, which is a big fight for me, and put on a good show and move on to bigger and better things," he said. "And I'm doing everything in my power right now to do just that."