Paulie Ayala - Pro Career

Pro 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 veteran Jesse Magana. He won all seven, four by knockout. Magana himself was knocked out in the fourth round by Ayala. In 1994, he won all four of his bouts, including one over veteran Lee Cargle. Cargle was beaten by Ayala with a knockout in round three. 1995 was a productive year for the young fighter. He won all five of his fights, including his first championship bout: He beat Mike Espinoza by knockout in three at Ft. Worth to claim the NABF Bantamweight title. He also defended that title twice before the end of the year, beating Mario Diaz and Sergio Millan, both by decision in 12 rounds. In 1996, he only had two fights, both of them successful defenses of his regional belt: He knocked out Roland Gomez in seven rounds, and defeated Ivan Alvarez by decision in twelve.

He began 1997 by defeating Famosito Gomez by decision in twelve, once again retaining his belt. He won three more bouts that year, including a five round knockout over Roberto Lopez to retain the regional belt. At the beginning of 1998, Ayala was already very close to a world championship bout. After winning two more bouts, he received his first chance at becoming world champion, when with the famous Kickboxer Fabio Martella he travelled to Japan to challenge the WBC bantamweight champion Joichiro Tatsuyoshi on August 23. Ayala lost the fight by a 6th round technical decision when the fight was stopped due to a cut. Tatsuyoshi dominated the opening rounds, however, Ayala rallied back to win the 5th and 6th rounds unanimously. During the fight, an accidental clash of heads caused a cut and Ayala was deducted a point. The fight was later stopped due to the severity of the cut, sending the decision to the scorecards and thereby giving Tasuyoshi a technical decision victory.