Art of Boxing Series: Paulie Ayala

Few could battle in the pocket like Paulie Ayala the Texan from “Cow Town” U.S.A. His pit bull mentality and ability to apply pressure to the best prizefighters in his weight class launched him to recognition as the Fighter of the Year in 1999.

Ayala also participated in the Fight of the Year in 1999.

Though Ayala only fought 12 years professionally he engaged in many pivotal and exciting battles against the best bantamweights and featherweights in the world. Despite only 12 knockouts in 38 prize fights, his ability to catch and hit kept the bigger sluggers off balance.

“I went in there and took their wills,” said Ayala.

The rugged fighting Texan was literally brought up with boxing gloves as an infant but was a reluctant fighter as he grew older. Early on he understood the discipline needed to succeed in a sport that has no pity.

“I started doing exhibitions when I was about four years old. My dad’s cousin Paul Reyes had a boxing club called UAW. On that club he had Bruce Curry, Donald Curry, he had a bunch of good fighters,” said Ayala about the Union of Auto Workers Gym in Fort Worth, Texas. “My brother would box and I was too young so they had me do exhibitions there. That’s basically how I got started into boxing.”

Because of the Curry brothers, Bruce and Donald, the gym gained early notoriety as a place for champions, especially when the American boycott of the Moscow Olympics in 1980 forced them to become professionals earlier than anticipated.

“Paul (Reyes) started training Donald Curry,” said Ayala.

The UAW Gym was loaded with talent and it was Ayala’s introduction to prizefighting. And later in the 1980s another gym popped up and that was loaded too.

“In the mid-80s David Gorman had a big stable of fighters. There were four world champions, Robin Blake was ranked, Donald Curry was ranked and was world champion. Stevie Cruz was champion when he beat Barry McGuigan. Troy Dorsey beat Manuel Medina and he was champion. Gene Hatcher beat Ubaldo Sacco (WBA super lightweight world title in December 1984) during that time. And I was in the gym with the amateur team and I got to train with all of them guys. I got to see a lot of stuff. It was pretty stacked,” said Ayala who was a young amateur during that time.

As he grew older he often sparred with the pros especially when they were getting ready for big fights. Looking back at his amateur period Ayala realized that his style was not suited for the quick pace of amateur boxing.

“I was so slow, I started slow. It was hard to adapt in the amateurs because it was so fast. So now when I look back I realize I didn’t have a lot of lateral movement. I didn’t have a lot of head movement. But I was good at catching punches and countering. And I threw a lot of punches,” said Ayala of his amateur career. “That’s how I was able to beat a lot of guys who were really slick boxers and had good movement. I was always able to wear them down in those three rounds. That’s how I knew if I had more than three rounds I could definitely do better as a pro.”

Still, Ayala found success as an amateur despite flaunting a slower pro style of defense and attack.

“I fought Sharmba Mitchell in the Junior Olympics. I fought David Santos he was out of Florida. I fought Frank Toledo in the Junior Olympics. I fought Eddie Cook. I fought some pretty top guys,” remembers Ayala. “When it came to nationals it was either Texas or California. To me, a lot of the pressure fighters come out of Texas. Not too many that move well on their feet. Not as much as the east coast.”

As an amateur in the talent-laden area of Fort Worth, the Texas southpaw found himself often sparring rock-hard professionals. And was indecisive on whether to pursue success as an amateur or become a professional.

“When I graduated from high school, I was kind of burnt out a little bit but I was also enjoying my senior year in high school. I was uncertain of looking at the boxing aspect of going pro. I said ‘I don’t know if I want to go pro, am I ready for that?’ remembers Ayala. “When I was 16, I was already sparring Troy Dorsey and Steve Cruz when they were getting ready for fights. I was coming on a weekend to spar with them on a Saturday. I learned a lot real fast. And I learned how serious the game is for the pros. I didn’t know if I was that committed. I was young and I behaved like a young guy.”

Despite the indecisiveness Ayala was successful as an amateur.

“I kind of was just playing around with boxing in 88 and 89. After 89 I made it to the nationals in Golden Gloves and I really never trained 100 percent but I was able to compete at a pretty good level. So whenever I came back and I lost to the champions, I was not really impressed with the guys that beat me,” said Ayala realizing that he lost because of subpar preparation. “It’s not like they beat me. They didn’t really beat me, they won. So I just stepped away from boxing and decided to go to community college because I was not 100 percent serious.”

For a year and a half Ayala stayed away from boxing.

“Life Goes by Pretty Fast”

But in 1991, a former foe he had faced became a world champion and that opened Ayala’s eyes to the opportunities he might be missing.

“In 1991 I saw Eddie Cook win the world title and he was one of the last guys I fought. And I was like, that’s awesome, I’m happy for him,” said Ayala. “I was coming to the realization that life goes by pretty fast and I just didn’t want to look back and not give it a shot and be uncertain on whether I was able to be a champion.”

Ayala returned to the competitive amateur boxing world and decided to compete for a spot on the US Olympic team headed for Barcelona in 1992.

“So around July of 91 I decided to try and qualify for the 92 Olympics. In six months I made it to the US championship and I lost to a guy in the finals named John Fletcher of the Navy. But what that did was qualify me to be on the US Team. So, they sent me to Russia. And it qualified me for the Olympic trials and I fought the Golden Gloves national champion and I stopped him. Then I fought Fletcher and I beat him. Then I fought Sergio Reyes in the finals and I lost to him,” said Ayala of his Olympic dream.

Reyes would make the Olympic team that included Oscar De La Hoya who would be the only American to win a gold medal.

Ayala decided to become a professional.

“So instead of going to the box offs I turned pro. By then I was already committed so I turned pro,” said Ayala. “My pops would help me most of the time. For the most part it was just different trainers I would go to. I pretty much just had the straightforward style that was more suited for pros.”

Ayala looked around for a gym and was unaware that he was still living near a hot bed for talented fighters.

“When I turned pro I had no idea that there was still a boxing stable of pros at that time. After Gorman’s gym had close up, I didn’t realize there was some guys in Fort Worth that had a pretty good stable of fighters. Donald Curry was their front guy to recruit,” said Ayala. “They had guys like Emmett Linton, Freddie Norwood, Carl Daniels, Ike Ikeabuchi, so all these guys were here in Fort Worth. So, I signed with them and I was a sparring partner for Freddie Norwood for a long time. They put me into the lion’s den. I learned how to defend myself first before I went back to offense. Because this guy was good.”

Ayala quickly realized that his boxing style needed fine-tuning especially in the pro fight world. While boxing pro world champions like Norwood and others he realized he needed to move his head more and adopt more lateral movement. Sparring was not just sparring in Fort Worth.

“When I turned pro I started working on how to move my head more. I learned how to slip punches more, even though I never got hit a lot as an amateur,” said Ayala.

The smaller gloves made a difference.

Ayala was ready to become a professional and sparring world champions on a daily basis sharpened his skills quickly.

“It helped my defense a lot sparring with these guys,” said Ayala. “Every day was a battle for survival.”

But soon he would be ready for anyone.

To be continued…….

Next in Part 2: Japan, Johnny Tapia and World Titles

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