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February 2002
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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EXCITEMENT GUARANTEED Leading super bantams Ayala and Adams have already proved that they make a compelling pairing, but will the rematch outcome be different? GRAHAM HOUSTON previews a potential Fight of the Year |
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AYALA: might he be even stronger this time around?
- Get Big Pic After fighting one of the most intense, action-packed bouts of last year, Paulie Ayala and Clarence "Bones" Adams do it again in a 12-rounder billed as a world super bantam title bout at the Mandalay Bay casino resort, Las Vegas on 23 February. None of the major-organisation title belts is at stake. But who cares? The crowd in the arena and a Home Box Office TV viewing audience in America will be seeing the most appealing, intriguing fight that can be made in the 8st 10lbs (122lbs) weight class). Last time Ayala won a gruelling, highly debatable split decision. It would have been a draw had Ayala not been given a 10-8 round by all three judges when he wobbled Adams severely in the second round of that fight, which also took place at the Mandalay Bay. True, this was the most emphatic round of the contest for either man. But Adams did not go down, and he landed some shots of his own. A two-point round? The fight crowd was arguing about that long after the bout was over. Naturally, each man thought he was the winner. Adams boxed beautifully but Ayala was right with him, punch for punch, rally for rally. Bones came out looking the worse for wear, with a cut over the left eye that came from a clash of heads in the 11th round and badly bruised and swollen hands. But Adams had done a lot of strong scoring to the body, where the bruises don't show. My ringside scorecard that night had Adams ahead, 115-113. But a case could be made for either man, or for a draw. Last time, each man forfeited his World Boxing Association championship (Ayala the bantam title, Adams the super bantam belt) in order to meet each other for a far bigger purse than they would have made against mandatory challengers. Even though Ayala, the southpaw from Fort Worth, Texas, was moving up in weight he looked physically stronger than Adams, who once boxed as a featherweight and who had been considered the "natural" super bantam in the fight. Not only this, but Ayala seemed to be landing the bigger punches - the left-hander in the second round had Adams wobblier than I can ever remember seeing him. Ayala is not considered a heavy puncher (12 opponents halted in a record of 33 wins and one loss) but he has consistently been matched with tough opponents who won't go away when hit. He is a better banger than the record shows. Just ask Adams. As we head into the rematch, the impression I now have is that Ayala is the more physically robust of the two men and the better puncher while Adams, who boxes out of Las Vegas, is probably a bit quicker and more of the ring artist. These are two veterans who have mastered the mechanics of the business. Ayala, who turns 32 two months after the fight, isn't flashy but brings tremendous conditioning and tenacity and there isn't a bigger heart in boxing. Adams, who is 27, turned professional as a 15-year-old in Tennessee 12 years ago and has had 48 fights, winning 41, with three losses and four draws, 19 opponents stopped. He has been one of those hard-luck fighters, with a history of bad breaks. Early in his career he was outclassing a boxer named Tony Perez, whom he had previously outpointed, when heads clashed, Perez was injured and it was declared a technical draw. That should have been a win for Adams. He suffered a broken jaw in a world bantam title fight when losing in 11 rounds to the long-reigning champion Orlando Canizales nine years ago: that's how long Bones has been a world-class boxer. Adams lost two fights due to suffering a dislocated shoulder. He seemed a little unlucky to have to settle for a draw against the local boxer, Edwin Santana, in Massachusetts in 1995. That same year I thought he clearly outboxed Kevin Kelley in a featherweight fight in Las Vegas but the decision was given as a draw. When he won the super bantam title by outclassing Mexico's Nestor Garza he broke his right hand. He broke the hand again in a title defence. Then we had the close loss to Ayala last August. Ayala, too, has known misfortune. In his first attempt to win a world title he was, he says, just starting to come on when he clashed heads with the Japanese bantamweight, Tatsuyoshi, in the sixth round in Yokohama and his opponent got the decision when it went to the scorecards. Lately, though, it is as if Ayala has luck in his corner. Rightly or wrongly, he is perceived as getting the benefit of the doubt in close fights. There were, of course, the two hard-fought wins over Johnny Tapia in classic bouts. Ayala had a difficult fight with the Dane Johnny Bredahl and what seemed a perilously close call against Mexico's Hugo Dianzo. Then came the split decision over Adams. It seems that - apart from the loss in Japan - the judges are always on Ayala's side. But Ayala points out, correctly, that he isn't doing the judging, just the fighting. And Ayala has a way of pulling out the close fights. He is adept at countering right back, so that he gets in the last punch - or punches - in an exchange. When a round is hard to score, Ayala often gives a judge a reason to score it for him because he looks as if he is the fighter in command. He also knows the importance of finishing a round well, to leave a good impression. A case in point was the sixth round of last August's fight with Adams. It was a round in which Bones had a clear advantage until almost the very end, when Ayala came on with some solid hits. The late surge won him the round on the scorecard of judge Jerry Roth, a veteran who has long been considered the best in Vegas. So, to win a decision against Ayala it is essential that the other man answers every punch and stays right with him from bell to bell. Not many boxers can do that - but Adams did it, and did it well enough to win the bout in the opinion of one judge and many of the spectators. Now Bones gets to do it again, and we can expect him to box much the same way as last time with the clever moves, the quick, sharp hitting and the hurtful body shots that, I think, were starting to tell on Ayala by the end of the fight. Certainly Ayala in effect gave away the last round by failing to engage, although Ayala's explanation was that he thought he was far enough in front to coast home. If Bones can avoid a shaky round such as the second round of their first fight, he can win on pure boxing ability. He is a gifted fighter. It has been said of him, in complimentary terms, that he boxes more like a black fighter than a white fighter, with his relaxed, smooth, slick style of boxing. Perhaps it is true to say that, outside of boxing's inner circle, he has never really had the approbation his talent deserves. But the big problem with Bones is that he seems injury prone. The hands are always going to be a problem. He has had the shoulder injuries. He suffered a badly swollen eye in the fight with Kevin Kelley, the broken jaw against Canizales, the cut eye in the fight with Ayala. If a hand goes, if an eye swells up, if he gets cut, a tough fight against an unyielding warrior is going to be that much tougher. But Adams has fought his way through pain before. Perhaps this will be the night when everything - for once - goes right for him and he can achieve the memorable, big-time victory that will be the payoff for everything he has been through. In Ayala, though, he meets a winner, a mentally and physically tough fighter who refuses to lose. Ayala is a boxer-fighter who, if he can't outpunch the other man, will outsmart him, and if he can't outsmart him he'll outwork him. Some of you might be thinking that, after getting the benefit of the doubt in a series of close bouts, that this time the judges might lean a little bit the other way. I do not believe it works that way. Each fight is a separate entity in its own right. The judges will be looking for a reason to give either man the round and past history doesn't - or shouldn't - come into it. It is up to Adams to do enough to convince the judges that he has won most of the rounds. If the fight is as close as last time it will once again be in the laps of the gods - or, more accurately, the judges. Because when almost every round is nip-and-tuck, a fight can go either way. Or end up a draw. Regardless of the result, the fans are winners. For lovers of good, competitive boxing, it doesn't get much better than Ayala versus Adams. Who wins? I leaned towards Adams slightly in the first bout, and, yes, I thought he just won it. But this time, after wrestling in my mind with the possibilities that this fascinating fight holds, I find myself going with Ayala. Last time, Ayala was stepping up to 122lbs. He has had time to settle in at the weight. He will be the stronger fighter and maybe the better puncher. Ayala is consistent, steady and utterly reliable, and I have the feeling that his constancy will, once again, see him through. |
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