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December 2000
Each month we bring you a selection of articles from the current and past issues of BOXING MONTHLY. To buy the magazine, see our subscription or back issues pages, or use our world distribution map to find a news-stand copy. Why not use our Interactive Forum to express your own boxing comments and opinions!
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NO FANCY DAN
Paulie Ayala is no showman but, as Johnny Tapia has learned twice, the Texan is damned effective. GRAHAM HOUSTON reports on the success of a quiet man |
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DONE IT AGAIN: Ayala celebrates his second victory over Tapia
- Get Big Pic There is nothing fancy about the boxing style of Paulie Ayala, and he is not a big puncher, but the World Boxing Association bantamweight champion has achieved success the hard way, which is by earning it. The 30-year-old father of two was the underdog for the second time when he faced Johnny Tapia in their rematch at Las Vegas on 7 October but once again he prevailed with intensity, bell-to-bell pressure and a fierce will to win. All that marred the satisfaction of his unanimous decision win was the commentary on Showtime, the American subscription TV network, which had Tapia dominating the fight. Talking over the phone from his home at Fort Worth, Texas, two weeks after the fight, and nursing a ruptured right eardrum (courtesy of a Tapia left hook in the opening round), Ayala had some strong words about the commentators, ex-champ Bobby Czyz and Steve Albert. "They were just watching one man and I don't think they were even watching our fight, they were so biased for Tapia," Ayala said. "It's almost ridiculous. It took a lot of the excitement away from the actual fight. If you actually look at the fight and listen to the commentary, they're narrating a different story. They're counting all his punches even if they land or not, as long as he's throwing. Whenever I'm throwing anything, they're not even talking about me. "The first time I watched it [on tape] I was upset, because I was excited about the win and everything and it put a damper on the win. But when I watched the fight again, I muted it [the commentary] out and just watched the fight for what it was. I covered my good ear, so I could just hear a ringing noise. The commentators can be very influencing. The way they made it sound, I got knocked out in the first round. And I thought I completely dominated. I thought I had won it more convincingly than the first fight, regardless of how well Johnny was boxing. He tried to steal the rounds and put on a show, but a lot of his punches weren't landing, maybe one out of six, and then I would catch him at least two to his one that would actually land somewhere besides the gloves and the arms. Even though I missed more, I threw more. He was boxing very well, but I still landed more than he did and that's the bottom line of boxing. I was missing a lot with looping punches and getting knocked off balance, but the bottom line, I hit him more than he hit me and it was effective aggressiveness. "In the last round he just had his head down and was just swinging wildly. I thought I dictated that round, too." Third fight? "I think the chances are pretty slim, because I'm not making any more concessions for Johnny," he said, having agreed to a catchweights bout at 124lbs (8st 12lbs) and, at Tapia's request, a 12-round distance, not to mention getting the short end of the purse. "It was all in his favour," he said. "If he would come to my weight, the purses would definitely have to be switched, and we could do it in Fort Worth under my circumstances." There does not seem much chance of that. But there are other fights, at bantamweight and also in the heavier divisions of super bantam and featherweight, that would be excellent earners for Ayala, although the biggest money match of them all, with Naseem Hamed, looks a remote possibility. So, for now, Ayala is staying at bantamweight (8st 6lbs, or 118lbs). A unification match between Ayala and Tim Austin, the unbeaten International Boxing Federation champion, is the biggest fight in the division and it appears to be a fight that can be made. "Even though I was calling out the Prince, I definitely would like to do the bantamweight [unification] first," Ayala said, "because to maintain the weight as a featherweight, and be strong as a featherweight, I would have to put on more mass, and it would be more difficult and take longer to take off." He can see himself staying at bantam for perhaps another year, or "for however many good fights come out of it". A Tim Austin fight is the one that interests him the most. "I don't have anything else to prove," he said. "I feel I deserve good paydays as opposed to that Mike Tyson fight, $10 million that he received for three rounds [actually two completed rounds]. I know I put on a heck of a lot better show, every time, for a lot less." As for Andrew Golota's surrender, he said: "It's unexplainable. I can't even imagine quitting. It's unheard of. It's not even in my vocabulary to quit." He has had his share of tough battles in a professional career that stands at 31 wins and one loss, which was on a technical decision when he clashed heads with the Japanese fighter, Joichiro Tatsuyoshi, in a World Boxing Council title fight in Yokohama in August 1998. Tatsuyoshi suffered a fight-ending cut in the sixth, but Ayala feels the Japanese boxer was fading, that his body punching was taking effect. "When I was catching him to the body I could hear him make little grunting noises," he said. It is probably fair to say that Ayala was little known outside the boxing community until his first fight with Tapia, which he won on a close but unanimous decision in June 1999, to become WBA champ, but he has been around for a long time. For instance, he had 384 amateur bouts, winning 360, after taking up the sport as a four-year-old when he boxed exhibitions in what Americans call the "pee wee" category. He won Junior Olympics and Texas Golden Gloves titles but dropped out of the sport at 19. He felt burned out by his years as a boxer and wanted to enjoy some of the good times he had been missing. Or so-called good times, in Ayala's case, because, in what he calls hisrebellious period, he will tell you that he was never truly happy. He put on weight during a two-year layoff, but returned to the gym to see if he could make the U.S. Olympic team for Barcelona. But he lost on points to an old rival from Fort Worth named Sergio Reyes, then in the U.S. marines, in the bantamweight final of the Olympic trials in June 1992, in Massachusetts. Three months earlier, a heavy-fisted southpaw named Eddie Cook, who Ayala had beaten in the Texas Golden Gloves, and who had turned professional, won the WBA bantamweight title in Las Vegas. Ayala said the thought occurred to him that if Cook was good enough to win a world title, and he had beaten Cook, then perhaps he, too, could reach the top as a professional. He duly made his pro debut with a six-round decision win at Fort Worth in November 1992. But it was to take almost seven years before he was to become a world champion. He is content to be a low-key individual, saying he would never pretend to be something he is not although realising that the showier, more extrovert fighters attract more attention. If you saw him fight Tapia on TV you would no doubt have picked up his exultation of "Hallelujah!" He is, indeed, a true believer and credits his Christian faith with fulfilment both in life and in the ring, although the cynics will always argue that God can't help a boxer if the boxer can't fight. And Ayala most definitely can fight. He has halted only 12 opponents but there is an unyielding quality about him. He keeps pressing in, keeps punching, steady and reliable and willing. His last four fights were all hard-fought 12-rounders, the two with Tapia, with WBA title defences in between against the Thai Srithai Condo and Denmark's Johnny Bredahl respectively. In contemporary jargon, Ayala had to suck it up in all of these fights. He said that in the rematch with Tapia had had his eardrum ruptured in the first round. "It kinda loosened up my equilibrium; I fought 12 rounds like that," he said. "With Condo in my first world title defence, I fought with a broken cheekbone. I fought with a broken hand before, defending my NABF [North American Boxing Federation] title. I've fought with adversity. If they're going to beat me, they're going to have to knock me out. "The Bredahl fight, the first Tapia fight, at this level, they're all very tough fights. That's why I rely so much on my faith in Jesus. After this fight [the Tapia rematch], at the hospital, they wanted to give me stitches in a little scratch over my right eyelid. I said: 'No! Are you crazy? Stitches? That'll hurt '. They started cracking up, because of my profession. So I'm not a big man to be able to take pain. But just going by faith, God puts His hand upon me and I'm able to withstand through the fight and remain victorious. "The Thai was a very strong fighter. I could see why Tapia avoided him and [Nana] Konadu, the one who Tapia beat for the WBA title. This guy had been set back for quite some time. He was due, and lo and behold, the winner of my first fight with Tapia was to do a mandatory against Condo, so it was my luck of the draw not only to win but to start with the No. 1 guy." It was a tough defence to be sure. Ayala said he suffered a broken left cheekbone in the second round, when the Thai caught him with a right uppercut. "If you watch the tape of the fight, in the second round I start moving back, but I couldn't see because he hit me so hard in the eye," he said. "It took the rest of the round to recuperate and gather my vision and stuff. It hurt through the whole fight. That's what caused my nosebleed. He didn't hit me in the nose, but what it [the broken cheek] did, it went into the sinus cavity and caused bleeding there, and it also hit my nerve endings. Every time he even hit me in the shoulder, I felt it [in the cheekbone]. It was tremendous pain. "But, like I said, just having faith in God and trusting in Him, everything's going to be all right." Against Condo, he said, he knew he simply had to keep hitting his strong and durable challenger, round after round, because he knew the Thai was going to keep coming. rebellious period, he will tell you that he was never truly happy. He put on weight during a two-year layoff, but returned to the gym to see if he could make the U.S. Olympic team for Barcelona. But he lost on points to an old rival from Fort Worth named Sergio Reyes, then in the U.S. marines, in the bantamweight final of the Olympic trials in June 1992, in Massachusetts. Three months earlier, a heavy-fisted southpaw named Eddie Cook, who Ayala had beaten in the Texas Golden Gloves, and who had turned professional, won the WBA bantamweight title in Las Vegas. Ayala said the thought occurred to him that if Cook was good enough to win a world title, and he had beaten Cook, then perhaps he, too, could reach the top as a professional. He duly made his pro debut with a six-round decision win at Fort Worth in November 1992. But it was to take almost seven years before he was to become a world champion. He is content to be a low-key individual, saying he would never pretend to be something he is not although realising that the showier, more extrovert fighters attract more attention. If you saw him fight Tapia on TV you would no doubt have picked up his exultation of "Hallelujah!" He is, indeed, a true believer and credits his Christian faith with fulfilment both in life and in the ring, although the cynics will always argue that God can't help a boxer if the boxer can't fight. And Ayala most definitely can fight. He has halted only 12 opponents but there is an unyielding quality about him. He keeps pressing in, keeps punching, steady and reliable and willing. His last four fights were all hard-fought 12-rounders, the two with Tapia, with WBA title defences in between against the Thai Srithai Condo and Denmark's Johnny Bredahl respectively. In contemporary jargon, Ayala had to suck it up in all of these fights. He said that in the rematch with Tapia had had his eardrum ruptured in the first round. "It kinda loosened up my equilibrium; I fought 12 rounds like that," he said. "With Condo in my first world title defence, I fought with a broken cheekbone. I fought with a broken hand before, defending my NABF [North American Boxing Federation] title. I've fought with adversity. If they're going to beat me, they're going to have to knock me out. "The Bredahl fight, the first Tapia fight, at this level, they're all very tough fights. That's why I rely so much on my faith in Jesus. After this fight [the Tapia rematch], at the hospital, they wanted to give me stitches in a little scratch over my right eyelid. I said: 'No! Are you crazy? Stitches? That'll hurt '. They started cracking up, because of my profession. So I'm not a big man to be able to take pain. But just going by faith, God puts His hand upon me and I'm able to withstand through the fight and remain victorious. "The Thai was a very strong fighter. I could see why Tapia avoided him and [Nana] Konadu, the one who Tapia beat for the WBA title. This guy had been set back for quite some time. He was due, and lo and behold, the winner of my first fight with Tapia was to do a mandatory against Condo, so it was my luck of the draw not only to win but to start with the No. 1 guy." It was a tough defence to be sure. Ayala said he suffered a broken left cheekbone in the second round, when the Thai caught him with a right uppercut. "If you watch the tape of the fight, in the second round I start moving back, but I couldn't see because he hit me so hard in the eye," he said. "It took the rest of the round to recuperate and gather my vision and stuff. It hurt through the whole fight. That's what caused my nosebleed. He didn't hit me in the nose, but what it [the broken cheek] did, it went into the sinus cavity and caused bleeding there, and it also hit my nerve endings. Every time he even hit me in the shoulder, I felt it [in the cheekbone]. It was tremendous pain. "But, like I said, just having faith in God and trusting in Him, everything's going to be all right." Against Condo, he said, he knew he simply had to keep hitting his strong and durable challenger, round after round, because he knew the Thai was going to keep coming. "He had an extremely good chin," Ayala said. "He was a Thai [muay Thai] boxing champion. If he took knees and elbows, 24-0 as a kick-boxing champion, I'm sure he was able to take punches. I was unable to land the body shots that I wanted because we kept clashing heads, and with the initial pain of the cheek it just jarred my nerve again, and I had to stick to hitting him on the head." Ayala's fights tend to go long [four of his seven NABF title bouts, before he became world champion, went the full 12 rounds] because he is not an exceptionally hard puncher, but he said: "If I catch you, I know I can hurt you. I know I buckled Tapia a few times, especially in the second fight. But the bottom line is to get the W at the end of the fight." He seems a man who is self-possessed and assured, but he confesses to having had serious doubts about going professional. He and his wife, Leti, daughter of a Fort Worth assistant pastor, had started a family, his son Paul Anthony, is now aged eight. "I had a secure government job in the post office, financial security, benefits, everything I would want for my family," he said. "To take that leap of faith, I mean, how many fighters get into boxing and become champion of the world? The odds were really against me. Not being a gold medallist, that was against me." He said he had to go by faith and not by sight. But his wife has been supportive. "She's the backbone," he said. "She never gripes about how many times I go to the gym, because I train all the day long, not ever questioning anything. She didn't really know what we were getting into. But together we've grown. "I think I've become an example of what living the right way and trusting in Jesus can do for you." He said that before his son was born he did not have any real sense of responsibility. "I think I was lost in the world," he said. "That was before I really dedicated my life to the Lord. By securing a good job, I thought that was going to make me happy. Being 19, 20, 21 years old, working for the post office and making $16 an hour, that was good money for that age, and knowing you'd never get laid off. We just sorted out letters to machines. So the work was easy. That's something that someone can do for the rest of their lives, if that's what their heart desires. I just wasn't happy. I knew my life was meant for more, even besides boxing, just meant to spread the glory of God and His goodness, I think that even surpasses my boxing now, just to share the word and tell people that He is real and I'm a living example. "I'm not the biggest puncher. I'm not the slickest boxer. I don't have the fastest hands, I don't have great footwork and everything. But I'm smart and I trust in Jesus to bring me out healthy, and look where I'm at. "I've been fighter of the year [Ring magazine], how many bantamweights have become that? I beat the best champion [Johnny Tapia] twice and the second time even easier. It's a good testimony, and it's true. You just have to have faith and work hard. "During that time I wasn't fighting, I was lost in the world, just didn't care about anything but myself. My wife, she was my girlfriend back then, I seen how I hurt her, and it hurt me to know that someone cared for me and I didn't cherish it like I should. I didn't want to lose her, but yet I was going through trials in my life, I didn't know what was wrong. "I thought I wanted to fight [in the ring], but I didn't want to put the time and effort into it. I told myself it was too hard, too much training. I wasn't getting in trouble or anything, just going out to clubs and all that. "Once I became 21, I got tired of that kind of lifestyle. I grew up, especially after I rededicated my life. I stopped going to clubs. It's not the right atmosphere, but at that time I wasn't strong enough in my faith to resist temptation. But now those things [temptations] are not even my desires, my desire is to worship Jesus and be with my family [he now has a second child, a daughter, Aleah, aged 17 months]." He attends an inter-denominational church called Teaching Word Faith Center. "We just believe that Jesus is Lord, that's the bottom line." And yes, he said, he prays during a fight, especially if it is a particularly tough one. He said he thinks of the Christian tract called Footprints. "You know the one, where there's only one set?" in his difficult moments in the ring. But what happens if the fight goes the other way? After all, the other man might also be praying during the fight, might he not? Ayala says he would accept defeat as being part of the big picture of his life. "I already have the victory in my life, my family that I love very much," he said. "I give 100 %, and if I lose on 100 % then I guess it's time to hang them up. If somebody beats me on my best day, then I have no excuses." What he means, it seems to me, is that if he feels in his heart that he has lost, after giving all he has, then it would be an appropriate time to leave the sport. But there are such things as disputed decisions, and there are simply bad breaks, as happened in Japan, against Tatsuyoshi. A loss under these circumstances would, one feels, not cause Ayala to walk away from the game. But, with his positive outlook on life, the bantam champ feels that he is always going to be a winner. As he put it: "I really believe that there is a Lord Jesus, and He's as real as you and I. And I know that by me carrying out His will I'll always have the victory, whether I get the decision or not." |
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