Young Tony Ayala vs Lupe Aquino

Lou Duva still states that if Tony Ayala Jr. didn't get into trouble,
he would have won the WBA Junior Middleweight Title, defended it 5 times,
including not only victories, but Knock-Outs over Thomas Hearns, Wilfred
Benetiz and Marvin Hagler, and a decision over come-backing Ray Leonard.

He did mention, that Ayala would have made Roberto Duran quit before 5 Rounds.

Lou's a Very Funny Guy!

 

The Star Ledger, New Jersey newspaper.
1982 article with Lou Duva, talking about Tony Ayala Jr.
His career was all mapped out.
1983
Win WBA Junior Middleweight Title
KO Davey Moore

1983 Defenses;
KO Wilfred Benetiz
KO Roberto Duran

1984 Defenses;
KO Thomas Hearns
W dec Ray Leonard

1985;
KO Marvin Hagler

 

Lou saw what nobody else did.

 

What's up LAXPDX? Long time no see!

 

Ayala was an exciting fighter back in 1982 and it is too bad we didn't see him fight Moore or a guy like Medal for a title. Matching him up with the legends Benitez,Duran,Hearns,Hagler and Leonard is a little too much. Ayala had certain weaknesses, and those legends zeroed in on any weakness the opponent had, which is what they were all good at. I have doubts Tony would have beaten Davey Moore, but Ayala was a strong up and coming fighter so a fight with Davey Moore who was an ok fighter would have been a good matchup, but to match him with the fab 4 would have had probably resulted in him losing to them all. He was not in the legends class which was obvious. Had he been matched carefully with Carlos Santos kind of guys he could have done well enough. I always saw him as similar to Matthew Hilton with not as much durability as Matthew but with a stronger right hand ,but not as strong a left. He had better two handed power than Matthew, but Matthew made up with it with that great left hook. I never really insulted Tony Ayala since he did seem like he had real power, but we really do not know how good he was. He never fought the cream of the crop guys to give us a any idea how good he was.

 

MAG1965,

Good post,,,,,,,,,,
Lou Duva was the one who shot for the Moon, and usually missed.
Tony Ayala Jr. probably would have won a Junior Middleweight title, lost it and regained it.
But for his manager/trainer to make stupid statements like he was going to wipe out
'5' Hall of Famers in a row,,,,,,,,,,thats crazy.
This was all based upon, his dominant sparring session when he was 15 years old, with Pipino Cuevas

 

Likewise RR! Happy Holidays!

Another easy KO for Tony!

 

I agree. Ayala was powerful I know that, the questions I have about Tony is his defense. The sparring session vs. Cuevas is impressive, but we really do not know the circumstances. If Pipino was taking it easy and Tony was giving it his all. Obviously Pipino couldn't unload his big punches in sparring against a young fighter.

 

MAG,
It also could have been a publicity stunt.
Like when Cuevas trainer would loosen the mount, holding the speed bag, so it
looked like Pipino was ripping it off the support base.
El Torito may have had his hands full with Davey Moore.
I can see him possibly getting to Benetiz.
But thats about it.

 

I always thought Moore would have beaten Tony, and Benitez would have drug him into the later rounds and beaten him.

 

Wilfred's chin may have been an issue,,,,,,,,
But no one ever saw Tony Ayala Jr. have to dig down deep in the
later rounds, 10th and on up.

Maybe Benetiz could have stayed away just long enough, to pick up a bunch of the late rounds.

John Mugabi may have used El Torito's head for batting practice too:hey

 

The JMWs were pretty good back then. Even the contenders were good. I'd have to think that Ayala would have had his hands full with the contenders like Frank Fletcher and Hard Rock Green. It would have been interesting to see how he would have done against them. I also don't know if he could have beaten fighters like Hamsho or Wilford Scypion. I'm thinking he stood a good chance of losing to these guys. Ayala was good at what he did, but he also has some glaring weaknesses that could have been exploited.

 

SS,

What Ayala JR did great was bully.
But we only saw him against medoicre fighters.
His 2 top wins were against Robbie Epps (a good boxing middleweight who couldn't break and egg), and Argentinian Carlos Herrera (a pretty good Jr. Midddleweight).
His manager L.D. turned down a fight on NBC with Buster Drayton and/or Tony Braxton.
I think they wanted light-punching Rocky Mosley Jr., and got turned down.

 

I think the bout goes the way Aquino--Moore went with Ayala on the receiving end. I think Lupe was a guy that dug deep and did well against sluggers. His big problem was the boxers that would out manouver and pepper him. Ayala is going to slug in there and I think his bad habit of holding that left hand low see's him eating a nasty left hook from this guy.

 

As much as I hate to contribute to the delusional projections of Ayala, I think he could've beaten Aquino. Aquino was a hard guy, but pretty sloppy and little defense. I think Ayala had a bigger punch and was a little tighter technically (granted, we're not talking Leonard - Beintez here).

Benitez would've completely schooled Ayala, punished that soft midsection and possibly stopped Ayala late.

Duran, we've seen Duran - Ayala really, it's called Duran - Moore. Duran would've brutalized Ayala. Too much savvy, too much craft, too much defense.