Ayala Outlasts Tapia Again, Wins by Decision

There they were at the end Saturday night, Paulie Ayala and Johnny Tapia, just as they had been for 12 rounds, just as they were 16 months ago, two tough, unyielding professionals, face-to-face, throwing every punch left in their arsenal, using up every drop of adrenaline in their tank until the final bell mercifully sounded.

Again, as they had been in their 1999 Fight of the Year, they were equal in determination and passion.

Again, as in 1999, Ayala was a little better on the judges’ scorecard.

As a result, Ayala won the vacant International Boxing Assn. 126-pound featherweight title by unanimous decision at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in front of a crowd of 6,681, a title Ayala has said all along he wouldn’t accept. Instead, Ayala prefers to retain his 118-pound World Boxing Assn. bantamweight title.

He only came up in weight in order to give Tapia a rematch.

“Twice baby, twice baby,” said Ayala, holding up two fingers. “Nobody can beat me.”

Judge Keith MacDonald scored the match 116-112 while judges Chuck Giampa and Jerry Roth had it 115-113. The Times had Ayala winning, 115-113.

Tapia, of course saw it differently. He was so angry that he shoved Todd DuBoef of the Top Rank boxing organization, stepson of Bob Arum, Ayala’s promoter.

“This is your fault,” Tapia yelled.

Then Rob Gutierrez, Tapia’s brother-in-law, threw a punch that landed on DuBoef’s mouth.

Gutierrez was led away in handcuffs, leaving DuBoef with a swollen lip.

“I know I won,” said Tapia before disappearing into the night rather than attending the postfight news conference. “I boxed his butt off. What do I have to do to win? It wasn’t close. He didn’t even touch me. He didn’t beat me. I thought I won nine of the 12 rounds.”

Hardly.

But there can be no argument over the fact that this was a close, well-matched fight. First Tapia gained the momentum, scoring decisively in the first round, mostly with his right hand. Then back came Ayala, his left hand putting Tapia on the defensive.

But not for long. Both fighters had their moments of fatigue, but neither held on, and neither held back for long, each seeming to find new reserves of strength just as it appeared the other was taking control.

There were no knockdowns in the fight. Indeed, these guys could probably go 50 rounds with neither going down.

“Tappy was busy, but he just wasn’t connecting,” Ayala said. “I gave every concession in this fight because I knew I would win.”

Although there was strong sentiment for a rematch, Tapia insisted that it could not be fought like the first one at 118 pounds. He said he could no longer make that weight, that he had been surviving on ice cubes before the first fight to maintain his weight.

Finally, Ayala agreed to come up to a special weight of 124.

The two men couldn’t even agree on who would enter the ring last. That privilege is normally reserved for the champion. But this fight was for a vacant title.

A coin flip was held with Tapia’s trainer, Jesse Reid, representing him.

Reid lost.

But Tapia said Reid wasn’t qualified to represent him.

Ultimately another compromise was reached. They entered the ring at the same time.

But it was Tapia who left first in anger. His record is now 48-2-2 with 25 knockouts. Both losses have come at the hands of Ayala, who improved to 31-1 with 12 knockouts.

Even after the fight, the bickering continued.

Reid announced that the IBA was giving Tapia the belt despite the decision.

“I know who won,” Reid said. “I am not a blind person.”

That caused Arum to explode.

“This is absolutely an absurdity,” Arum said. “We will have nothing to with the IBA after this. This is absolute nonsense and we will not tolerate it.”

Dean Chance, the former Angel Cy Young Award winner who heads the IBA, said that his organization was only offering Tapia the belt because Ayala wasn’t interested in keeping it.

“I’m not saying who won,” Chance said. “It was a very emotional fight. I just told Johnny that there is nobody in the world I would rather have represent the IBA than Johnny Tapia.”

At the end, Arum was screaming, Chance was explaining, DuBoef was dabbing at his swollen lip and Tapia was nowhere to be found.

Just another classy night for boxing.

The semi-main event was also a rematch. When they met four months ago, Eric Morel dominated Alberto Ontiveros and such was again the case Saturday night.

In defending the WBA flyweight title he won by beating Sornpichai Pisnurachank in August, Morel won every round on all three judges’ scorecards to improve his unbeaten record to 28-0 with 16 knockouts.

Ontiveros dropped to 12-4-3 with 10 knockouts in a fight in which there were no knockdowns.