Results of Next Decision Could End Aquino’s Promising Boxing Career

Anywhere, anyplace, any time, the memory of that Aug. 14, 1988, night is liable to hit Lupe Aquino like a stiff jab to the face.

Sometimes, just driving past a car wreck on the freeway starts his mind racing.

Although he was trying to concentrate on Jerry Okorodudu, Thursday night’s opponent at the El Cortez Convention Center, Aquino’s nightmare refuses to go away.

Okorodudu, a super-welterweight from Nigeria, ended up as just the latest of Aquino’s opponents to hit the canvas, suffering a fourth-round knockout. Why not? Of his 41 victories (with five losses and a tie), 31 are by knockout, including his past eight.

But his opponent Monday will be more formidable. In this bout, Aquino’s powerful right hand won’t be of much use.

That’s because Monday, Aquino will face reality and learn if his next fight will take place behind bars.

He will be sentenced for gross-vehicular manslaughter while under the influence of alcohol, a charge to which he has already pleaded no contest. The maximum sentence is 10 years, which would leave Aquino, 26, a middle-aged man with a paunch instead of punch.

The minimum sentence is four years.

“I really try not to think about it,” Aquino said. “I just pray to God that everything will come out OK.”

Life was OK for Aquino until that Aug. 14 night. In fact, it was better than that. He was the World Boxing Council’s super-welterweight champion and had million-dollar paydays awaiting.

That all changed at about 2:20 a.m. on the San Diego Freeway north of Chalon Road. Aquino was driving home to Ventura from a rock concert. His passengers were Michelle Avila, Aquino’s girlfriend, Howard Thomas (a Ventura disc jockey), one of Aquino’s best friends, and Teresa Bello, Thomas’ girlfriend.

Aquino lost control of his Mercedes-Benz. It plunged some 40 feet down an embankment and landed upside down on Sepulveda Boulevard. Thomas and Bello died. Aquino suffered minor injuries, Avila moderate injuries.

Aquino claims Avila, 26, grabbed the steering wheel and caused the car to jerk off the road.

“She knows she yanked that steering wheel, and the Lord knows she grabbed it,” Aquino said. “There was no way I could save that car.”

On Sept. 8 in Los Angeles Municipal Court, Aquino entered his no-contest plea. “No matter how good of a case I had, I was under the influence,” Aquino said. “Even if I won the case, there’s still a drunk driving charge, and two people are dead.”

Avila, who is still living in Ventura, said in the police report and later in a preliminary hearing that she was looking down for something in her purse when the car went off the road. Avila said the last thing she remembers before waking up in the hospital was the car going down the embankment.

Steve Pell, Avila’s lawyer, said Avila has filed a civil suit against Aquino for injuries suffered before and after the accident. Avila, who has not spoken to Aquino since days after the accident, claims Aquino battered her before they got in the car.

Pell said Avila is also claiming Aquino is in contempt of court for failing to pay child-support for their 5-year-old son. She is refusing comment on the matter.

Joe Sayatovich, Aquino’s manager, doesn’t believe Aquino is guilty of anything except driving while under the influence of alcohol.

“He’s a good kid, and he got out of hand,” Sayatovich said. “He just got to hanging around all those yuppies. Lupe is not a criminal. He made a mistake. Two people are dead, and I agree somebody has to pay. There’s all kinds of things he could have done to prevent what happened.

“He’s probably going to be doing some time. I wouldn’t want to be the one deciding it.”

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Perez will hand down Aquino’s sentence. Aquino said even the minimum term will be too long.

“I realize the opportunity and the gift that I have,” Aquino said. “But me going to prison would be a waste of talent that I have. I’m paying for it. Everything I do, everywhere I go, I have flashes of that night. It’s hard for me to get away from it.

“We all make mistakes. We’re not perfect. It’s just a dumb mistake on my part. Since the accident, it seems like I’ve already been in jail five years.”

Isaia Guadalupe Aquino was born in Tijuana and moved with his family to Santa Paula, 10 miles east of Ventura, when he was five.

After a short amateur career, Aquino turned professional at 18. Within six years, Aquino won the WBC 154-pound title with a unanimous 12-round decision over Duane Thomas in Bordeaux, France. Aquino said his title shot could have come sooner, but a succession of poor managers held him back.

Not long after he returned from France, Aquino went on a partying binge that lasted several months.

“As soon as he won the championship, he went into a self-destruct mode,” Sayatovich said. “He partied and celebrated, which is fine, but eventually you have to go back to work.”

Reflecting on the past, Aquino admits he was on the wrong track. But at the time, he said he was oblivious.

“When I won the title, it happened so quick,” Aquino said. “I attracted a lot of people. I wasn’t myself, going here and there for presentations. I never did much of my training. Me being the nice guy, I couldn’t say no to anyone. My training always came last.

“It was a horrible feeling, because there was so much pressure on me. It was not the way I wanted it to be at all. Now that I’ve been through it, it would be a different story. I would devote myself to my training and change my lifestyle.”

And his address.

Aquino said he believes environment, more than anything, caused his downfall.

“Perhaps, if I had been living in Campo, this might not have happened,” Aquino said.

Since the accident, Aquino has moved to Campo, where he trains under Sanchez and Orlin Norris Sr. He has returned to Ventura only a couple times to see his parents.

“I feel like a better person here than I did there,” Aquino said. “I don’t want to go back to Ventura. Friends, the atmosphere, the accident. Being over here, I feel like a fighter. It’s my place to be.”

Three months after winning the title, Aquino gave it back to Gianfranco Rossi. He lost again in January of 1988 to Donald Curry, a former world welterweight champion.

But when Aquino decisioned Milton McCrory in April and knocked out previously unbeaten Royan Hammond in August, he appeared to be coming back.

The comeback was interrupted by that horrifying night in August.

Four months later, Aquino fought for the World Boxing Organization junior-middleweight title against John David Jackson. He lasted just seven rounds before his trainer, Abel Sanchez, stopped the fight.

“Before the (Jackson) fight, I could see myself being on the canvas,” said Aquino, who has never been knocked off his feet. “And I never felt like that before. At that time, a lot of things were fresh. I was just there. I wasn’t doing anything.”

After that fight, Aquino was arrested at ringside for skipping a court appearance on the vehicular manslaughter charge.

But beginning with a first-round knockout of James Williams in April of ‘89, Aquino began to reestablish himself as one of the super-welterweight division’s better boxers. Since then Aquino has not had a fight last four rounds, including a second-round knockout of Pipino Cuevas, another former welterweight champion.

Sayatovich said Aquino’s boxing skills have never been the problem.

“He devastates people when he fights--the same way Mike Tyson does,” Sayatovich said. “He overpowers everyone who has ever stepped in the ring with him. He’s unbeatable when he’s in shape.”

Sanchez, who said Aquino trained just two weeks for Jackson and Curry and three for Rossi, agrees that Aquino can be nearly invincible when he is mentally and physically prepared.

“He’s a puncher-boxer--a better boxer than a lot of people give him credit for,” said Sanchez, who has worked with Aquino for four years. “He hates to train, but he loves to fight.

“In Palm Springs, in November of ‘86, he chased (John (The Beast)) Mugabi out of the ring in two rounds. Mickey Duff (Mugabi’s trainer) stopped the sparring.”

These days, when Aquino isn’t training or thinking of that August night, he is counseling school children on the dangers of drinking and driving.

He is also donating 10% of his purses to the two children of Teresa Bello and attending anger-control workshops as part of a diversion program for avoiding a 1987 battery charge involving Avila.

Aquino said his outlook on life and boxing have changed drastically.

“I’m more dedicated than I ever was,” Aquino said. “I’m taking my career more seriously.”

Unfortunately, that attitude change might have come two years too late.

“It’s too bad he didn’t have the mind discipline,” Sayatovich said. “He probably would have been worth $20 million by now.”

And two more people might be alive today.

Boxing Notes

On the undercard, San Diego’s Jesus Salud (30-2) won a unanimous decision over Eddie Lopez (20-7); San Diego’s Hugh Orozco (9-5) won a unanimous decision over San Diego’s Prince Pulido (1-1-1); San Diego’s Gil Jacobs (1-1) knocked out San Diego’s Nick Tolomeo (0-1) at 2:27 of the first round, and San Diego Rogelio Perez (2-3-2) won a unanimous decision over Palo Alto’s Rafael Torres (2-2).