Paul Anthony "Paulie" Ayala (born April 22, 1970) is an American former
professional boxer
Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...
who competed from 1992 to 2004. who held the
NABF and
WBA bantamweight
Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In MMA, bantamweight is .
The name for the class is derived from bantam chickens. B ...
titles, and the
IBO super bantamweight title. In 1999 he was voted "
Fighter of the Year" by ''
The Ring'' magazine for his first bout against
Johnny Tapia
John Lee Anthony Tapia (February 13, 1967 – May 27, 2012) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2011. He held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the unified IBF and WBO super flyweight title ...
, which also won "
Fight of the Year" honors.
[Tim Graham, ESPN.com]
Good guy Ayala gets overlooked
Accessed June 9, 2014[Jeff Zimmerman, Fight News]
Paulie Ayala's Punching Out Parkinson's Biggest Fundraiser to Date: Hall of Famer Terry Norris and Dewey Bozella will be guest speakers
, Accessed June 9, 2014,
Professional career
Ayala began his professional fighting career with a six-round decision win over Jaime Olvera on November 27, 1992. He had seven fights in 1993, including one against future NABO champion and world title challenger Jesse Magana. Ayala won all seven of those bouts, four by
knockout. Magana was knocked out in the fourth round, after which Ayala went on to score wins over prospects Evgeny Novoselov and George Acevedo.
In 1994, he won all four of his bouts, including one over veteran Lee Cargle. Cargle was knocked out by Ayala in round three. 1995 was a productive year for Ayala, who won all five of his fights, including his first regional championship bout. By defeating Mike Espinoza by knockout in three rounds at the
Fort Worth Convention Center, Ayala claimed the
NABF bantamweight title. He defended it twice before the end of the year, beating Mario Diaz and Sergio Millan, both by decision in 12 rounds.
Ayala only had two fights in 1996, both of them successful defenses of his NABF title. In the first, he knocked out Roland Gomez in seven rounds but was forced to take a seven-month layoff due to a broken Hand. Returning to the ring in September, Ayala defeated Ivan Alvarez by decision in twelve to retain the NABF bantamweight title.
He began 1997 by defeating Cuauhtemoc Gomez by decision in twelve, once again retaining his belt as the headliner at the
Tropicana Casino in
Atlantic City, New Jersey. Ayala won three more bouts that year, defeating heavy-handed puncher Nestor Lopez in a co-main event feature on an
HBO pay-per-view
Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast.
Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program guid ...
card, headlining at
The Orleans
The Orleans is a hotel and casino located in Paradise, Nevada, near the Las Vegas Strip. It is owned and operated by Boyd Gaming. It includes the large multipurpose Orleans Arena that can be converted into an ice rink and can seat 9,000 attendee ...
in
Paradise, Nevada with a fifth-round knockout over Roberto Lopez to retain the NABF belt. This was followed by another HBO PPV appearance, in which Ayala won a unanimous decision against Ricardo Medina.
At the beginning of 1998, Ayala was very close to a world championship bout. Fighting two more bouts, he received his first chance at a world title by becoming the mandatory contender for the
WBC belt. Ayala then traveled to Japan to challenge WBC bantamweight champion
Joichiro Tatsuyoshi
is a former World Boxing Council (WBC) world bantamweight champion from Kurashiki, Okayama, Japan. His record is 20–7–1 (14 KOs).
He is popular for his fight style and unique personality, and has appeared in several television variety show ...
on August 23. Ayala lost the fight by a sixth-round
technical decision
A technical decision is a term used in boxing when a fight has to be stopped because of a headbutt.
In boxing fights, referees have to pay deep attention to the action going on between the fighters, especially when the two combatants are fightin ...
when the fight was stopped due to a cut. Tatsuyoshi came out fast in the opening rounds, but Ayala rallied back to win the fifth and sixth rounds unanimously. During the fight, an accidental clash of heads caused a cut and Ayala was docked 2 points. The fight was stopped in round seven due to the severity of the cut, sending the decision to the scorecards and thereby handing victory to Tatsuyoshi.
WBA bantamweight title
After a win against Ivan Salazar, Ayala began 1999 by beating David Vazquez by decision in ten. Unable to secure a rematch with Tatsuyoshi, Ayala nonetheless got his second chance at becoming a world champion, this time against
WBA bantamweight champion
Johnny Tapia
John Lee Anthony Tapia (February 13, 1967 – May 27, 2012) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2011. He held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the unified IBF and WBO super flyweight title ...
. The fight took place in
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
on June 26. Ayala handed Tapia his first career loss and became world champion by winning a twelve-round unanimous decision, in what turned out to be both Ayala's
Showtime debut and
''The Ring'' magazine's Fight of the Year for 1999.
[Ayala-Tapia Rematch Seeks Same Flair as the Original – Los Angeles Times](_blank)
/ref>
Ayala retained his title against WBA #1 contender Sithai Condo before the end of that year, earning ''The Ring'' magazine Fighter of the Year honours. In his second title defense, he defeated Johnny Bredahl via twelve-round decision. On October 7, 2000, Ayala and Tapia met in a rematch for the vacant IBA featherweight
Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling.
Boxing
Professional boxing
History
A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, t ...
title, at a catchweight
A catchweight is a term used in combat sports, such as boxing or mixed martial arts, to describe a weight limit that does not adhere to the traditional limits for weight classes. In boxing, a catchweight is negotiated prior to weigh-ins, which are ...
of 124 lbs. As with the first fight, this took place on Showtime. Due to Tapia being unable to make the bantamweight limit, Ayala's WBA bantamweight title was not at stake. Ayala defeated Tapia once again by a twelve-round unanimous decision, a result which was seen as controversial.
On March 30, 2001, Ayala recovered from a fourth-round knockdown to retain his WBA bantamweight title with a twelve-round decision against Hugo Dianzo in an ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...
telecast bout. Ayala then vacated his title in order to move up in weight.
Super bantamweight
On August 4, 2001, Ayala challenged world champion Clarence Adams, who had vacated his WBA super bantamweight title in order to face Ayala for the vacant IBO title. Ayala defeated Adams via split decision. In a rematch of their closely contested bout, Ayala successfully defended his IBO title by defeating Adams in a wide unanimous decision. Both bouts were featured on HBO telecasts.
Featherweight
Continuing his rise in weight, on November 16, 2002 Ayala met world champion Érik Morales
Erik Isaac Morales Elvira (; born September 1, 1976) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1993 to 2012. He is the first Mexico-born boxer in history to win world titles in four different weight classes, having held the WBC ...
for the vacant WBC featherweight title, this time winding up on the losing end of a twelve-round unanimous decision.
Ayala returned to the ring on November 15, 2003, dropping back down to super bantamweight and defeating Edel Ruiz in a ten-round unanimous decision in Fort Worth, Texas. On June 19, 2004 in Los Angeles, Ayala once again ventured into the featherweight division. In a losing effort against fellow former world champion Marco Antonio Barrera
Marco Antonio Barrera Tapia (born January 17, 1974) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1989 to 2011. He held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the WBO junior featherweight title twice between ...
, Ayala was knocked out in ten rounds. In September of that year, Ayala surprised many of his boxing fans by announcing his retirement from the sport.
Punching Out Parkinson's
Following retirement, Ayala has contributed to helping those who suffer from Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...
. In Fort Worth, Texas at his University of Hard Knocks gym, Ayala started a program to help Parkinson's patients. Using his expertise, he teaches non-contact boxing techniques to regain coordination, strength and balance in order to improve the quality of life for his students and create an environment of camaraderie.Punching Out Parkinsons UHK Boxing Program
/ref>
Professional boxing record
References
External links
Official website
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ayala, Paulie
1970 births
Living people
American boxers of Mexican descent
Boxers from Texas
Sportspeople from Fort Worth, Texas
Southpaw boxers
World boxing champions
American male boxers
Bantamweight boxers