Paulie Ayala

Paul Anthony "Paulie" Ayala (born April 22, 1970) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2004. He was a multiple-division World champion who held the WBA bantamweight title and The Ring Magazine super bantamweight title. In 1999 he was voted "Fighter of the Year" by The Ring magazine for his first bout against Johnny Tapia, which also won "Fight of the Year" honors.<ref name=ESPN>Tim Graham, ESPN.com, Good guy Ayala gets overlooked, Accessed June 9, 2014</ref><ref name=Zimmerman>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 Template:Webarchive, Accessed June 9, 2014,</ref><ref>Rodger Mallison, August 6, 2013, Star-Telegram, Former Boxing Champ Paulie Ayala, Accessed June 9, 2014</ref><ref>Mac Engel, Star-Telegram, January 13, 2013, Former boxing champion Paulie Ayala stays busy in retirement, Accessed June 9, 2014</ref><ref>James Slater, June 6, 2014, Eastside Boxing, Erik Morales: an appreciation, Accessed June 9, 2014</ref><ref>Emily White Youree and Joan Kurkowski-Gillen, May. 18, 2014, in the Fort-Worth Star-Telegram, a book entitled Legendary Locals of Fort Worth, New & Notable: Fort Worth in the spotlight, Accessed June 9, 2014</ref>

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 a 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 card, headlining at The Orleans 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 on August 23. Ayala lost the fight by a sixth-round technical decision 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

WBA bantamweight title

After a win against Ivan Salazar, Ayala began 1999 by beating David Vazquez by a decision 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. The fight took place in Las Vegas on June 26.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name="LA Times">Ayala-Tapia Rematch Seeks Same Flair as the Original – Los Angeles Times</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 a twelve-round decision. On October 7, 2000, Ayala and Tapia met in a rematch for the vacant IBA featherweight title, at a catchweight 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.<ref name="LA Times" />

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 telecast bout. Ayala then vacated his title 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 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 Erik Morales for the vacant WBC featherweight title, this time winding up on the losing end of a twelve-round unanimous decision.<ref>Erik Morales Vs. Paulie Ayala: Morales too strong for gallant Ayala Template:Webarchive eastsideboxing.com</ref>

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 losing against fellow former world champion Marco Antonio Barrera.<ref>Marco Antonio Barrera Floors Paulie Ayala Template:Webarchive infiniteboxing.com</ref> In September of that year, Ayala surprised many of his boxing fans by announcing his retirement from the sport.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Punching Out Parkinson's

Following retirement, Ayala has contributed to helping those who suffer from Parkinson's disease. In Fort Worth, Texas at his University of Hard Knocks gym, Ayala started a program to help Parkinson's patients.<ref>Former Boxing Champ Takes On Parkinson's</ref> Using his expertise, he teaches non-contact boxing techniques to regain coordination, strength and balance to improve the quality of life for his students and create an environment of camaraderie.<ref>Punching Out Parkinsons UHK Boxing Program</ref>

Professional boxing record

Template:Abbr	Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round, time	Date	Location	Notes
38	Template:No2Loss	35–3	Marco Antonio Barrera	TKO	10 (12), Template:Small	Jun 19, 2004	Template:Small
37	Template:Yes2Win	35–2	Edel Ruiz	UD	10	Nov 14, 2003	Template:Small
36	Template:No2Loss	34–2	Erik Morales	UD	12	Nov 16, 2002	Template:Small	Template:Small
35	Template:Yes2Win	34–1	Clarence Adams	UD	12	Feb 23, 2002	Template:Small	Template:Small
34	Template:Yes2Win	33–1	Clarence Adams	SD	12	Aug 4, 2001	Template:Small	Template:Small
33	Template:Yes2Win	32–1	Hugo Dianzo	UD	12	Mar 30, 2001	Template:Small	Template:Small
32	Template:Yes2Win	31–1	Johnny Tapia	UD	12	Oct 7, 2000	Template:Small
31	Template:Yes2Win	30–1	Johnny Bredahl	MD	12	Mar 4, 2000	Template:Small	Template:Small
30	Template:Yes2Win	29–1	Anupong Saohin Srisuk	UD	12	Oct 23, 1999	Template:Small	Template:Small
29	Template:Yes2Win	28–1	Johnny Tapia	UD	12	Jun 26, 1999	Template:Small	Template:Small
28	Template:Yes2Win	27–1	David Vazquez	UD	10	Feb 20, 1999	Template:Small
27	Template:Yes2Win	26–1	Ivan Salazar	KO	4 (8)	Nov 14, 1998	Template:Small
26	Template:No2Loss	25–1	Joichiro Tatsuyoshi	TD	6 (12), Template:Small	Aug 23, 1998	Template:Small	Template:Small
25	Template:Yes2Win	25–0	Antonio Ramirez	TKO	7 (10)	May 16, 1998	Template:Small
24	Template:Yes2Win	24–0	Elias Paulin	KO	4 (10), Template:Small	Feb 11, 1998	Template:Small
23	Template:Yes2Win	23–0	Ricardo Medina	UD	10	Sep 13, 1997	Template:Small
22	Template:Yes2Win	22–0	Roberto Lopez	TKO	5 (12), Template:Small	Aug 8, 1997	Template:Small	Template:Small
21	Template:Yes2Win	21–0	Nestor Lopez	UD	10	Apr 12, 1997	Template:Small
20	Template:Yes2Win	20–0	Cuauhtemoc Gomez	UD	12	Jan 11, 1997	Template:Small	Template:Small
19	Template:Yes2Win	19–0	Ivan Alvarez	UD	12	Sep 28, 1996	Template:Small	Template:Small
18	Template:Yes2Win	18–0	Roland Gomez	TKO	7 (12), Template:Small	Feb 22, 1996	Template:Small	Template:Small
17	Template:Yes2Win	17–0	Jose Rangel	TKO	3 (10)	Dec 6, 1995	Template:Small
16	Template:Yes2Win	16–0	Sergio Millan	UD	12	Sep 9, 1995	Template:Small	Template:Small
15	Template:Yes2Win	15–0	Mario Diaz	UD	12	Jun 20, 1995	Template:Small	Template:Small
14	Template:Yes2Win	14–0	Miguel Espinoza	TKO	3 (12), Template:Small	Mar 10, 1995	Template:Small	Template:Small
13	Template:Yes2Win	13–0	Juan Mendoza	UD	10	Jan 26, 1995	Template:Small
12	Template:Yes2Win	12–0	Juan Francisco Soto	UD	10	Dec 2, 1994	Template:Small
11	Template:Yes2Win	11–0	Julian Flores	UD	10	Aug 23, 1994	Template:Small
10	Template:Yes2Win	10–0	Lee Cargle	TKO	3 (8), Template:Small	Apr 16, 1994	Template:Small
9	Template:Yes2Win	9–0	Javier Diaz	UD	8	Feb 17, 1994	Template:Small
8	Template:Yes2Win	8–0	George Acevedo	PTS	6	Dec 9, 1993	Template:Small
7	Template:Yes2Win	7–0	Enrique Gomez	TKO	1 (8)	Nov 11, 1993	Template:Small
6	Template:Yes2Win	6–0	Arturo Estrada	UD	6	Oct 13, 1993	Template:Small
5	Template:Yes2Win	5–0	Marcos Flores	KO	1 (4)	Aug 28, 1993	Template:Small
4	Template:Yes2Win	4–0	Evgeny Novoselov	UD	6	Jun 24, 1993	Template:Small
3	Template:Yes2Win	3–0	Manuel Robles	TKO	2 (?)	Apr 2, 1993	Template:Small
2	Template:Yes2Win	2–0	Armando Morado	TKO	4 (6)	Mar 5, 1993	Template:Small
1	Template:Yes2Win	1–0	Jaime Olvera	PTS	6	Nov 27, 1992	Template:Small

See also

• List of southpaw stance boxers
• List of Mexican boxing world champions
• List of world bantamweight boxing champions

External links

• Template:Boxrec

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