18 Facts About Paulie Ayala

Paulie Ayala was a multiple-division World champion who held the WBA bantamweight title and The Ring Magazine super bantamweight title.

Paulie Ayala had seven fights in 1993, including one against future NABO champion and world title challenger Jesse Magana.

Paulie Ayala won all seven of those bouts, four by knockout.

Magana was knocked out in the fourth round, after which Paulie Ayala went on to score wins over prospects Evgeny Novoselov and George Acevedo.

Paulie Ayala defended it twice before the end of the year, beating Mario Diaz and Sergio Millan, both by decision in 12 rounds.

Paulie Ayala only had two fights in 1996, both of them successful defenses of his NABF title.

Paulie Ayala began 1997 by defeating Cuauhtemoc Gomez by decision in twelve, retaining his belt as the headliner at the Tropicana Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Paulie 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.

At the beginning of 1998, Paulie Ayala was very close to a world championship bout.

Paulie 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 Paulie Ayala rallied back to win the fifth and sixth rounds unanimously.

Unable to secure a rematch with Tatsuyoshi, Paulie Ayala nonetheless got his second chance at becoming a world champion, this time against WBA bantamweight champion Johnny Tapia.

Paulie 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 Paulie Ayala's Showtime debut and The Ring magazine's Fight of the Year for 1999.

Paulie Ayala defeated Tapia by a twelve-round unanimous decision.

On March 30,2001, Paulie 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.

Paulie 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, Paulie Ayala ventured into the featherweight division losing against fellow former world champion Marco Antonio Barrera.

In Fort Worth, Texas at his University of Hard Knocks gym, Paulie Ayala started a program to help Parkinson's patients.