The Boxing Tribune

Boxing's Independent Media

  • Home
  • News
  • Videos
  • Best Of
  • Staff
  • Advertise With Us
  • Write for Us

Ring Muggings: Part 29

May 26, 2015 by Ted Sares 3 Comments

29
SHARES
ShareTweet

ayala

Ayala vs. Epps (August 1982)

“He could have been one of the greatest.”— Osmar Alaniz, boxing coach and friend of the family

On March 28, 1981, Mario Maldonado (11-7-1 coming in) met vicious and highly touted Tony “El Torito” Ayala Jr. (8-0, 7 KOs at the time) at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse.

Ayala’s aggressive fighting style earned him the nickname” El Torito,” the Baby Bull. He was strong, hit hard with both hands, was mean throughout, but also possessed a technical sense of the sweet science that belied his aggressiveness.

Maldonado was expected to go early, but he had other ideas. The fact is, he was coming off a KO win over undefeated Roger “The Dodger” Leonard. Mario did go, but, before he did, he staggered El Torito and then decked him in the first round. Badly hurt, Ayala made it through the round and then took control of the fight, taking out Maldonado with seconds left in the third stanza. He would later admit that he monetarily visited Queer Street.

Maldonado would go on to be a staple in Atlantic City (where he fought on 18 occasions) and finished with a record of 28-13-1 including wins over Nino Gonzalez, Jimmy Batten, Curtis Ramsey, and Buster Drayton.

Bad Juju in San Antonio: 1982

The following year and after 11 straight wins, the more seasoned and feared Ayala fought 6’2” New Mexican Robbie Epps (30-2 at the time) at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, Texas in a scheduled 10-rounder. Epps had once been a stablemate, but he left Ayala’s father and later had reportedly said some things about Ayala’s family. There was bad blood before the fight. Even before the bell rang, a strange and high-decibel roar came from the pro-Ayala crowd, kind of a scary half whistle-half scream. Presumably, the whistling represented boos for Epps, while high-decibel shrieks were cheers for the much shorter Baby Bull.

Epps was no slouch having won his first 22 pro bouts and having beaten Darryl Penn and the very capable Dwight Davison (28-0 coming in).

When the bell rang, Torito, who said he wanted to hurt Epps, went after his opponent like a bull goes after a capeless matador. He didn’t let up with his accurate heavy left hooks and concussive right leads until referee Dickie Cole stopped the brutal mugging at 1:32 of the first round. To punctuate matters, Ayala screamed at the beaten Epps and continued to rain blows upon him as the crowd continued to shriek its approval. Epps needed Lou Duva to help pull Ayala off him. Referee Cole tried but couldn’t do it. The crowd loved it, but it was a harbinger of things to come.

These Ayala wins flew under the radar and exposed rare weaknesses in the Baby Bull’s arsenal—a possible weak chin and more to the point, a questionable flaw in his character. But no one could have imagined back then just how serious that flaw was.

After a turbulent life—much of it spent in prison—Tony passed away in 2015 at age 52.

Ayala’s record was 21-0 (1980-1982) at the time of his first prison term and then, after mounting a comeback, he went 10-2 (1999-2003) for a final record of 31-2 with 27 KOs.

Read More

Ring Muggings: Part One

Ring Muggings: Part Two

Ring Muggings: Part Three

Ring Muggings: Part Four

Ring Muggings: Part Five

Ring Muggings: Part Six

Ring Muggings: Part Seven

Ring Muggings: Part Eight

Ring Muggings: Part Nine

Ring Muggings: Part Ten

Ring Muggings: Part Eleven

Ring Muggings: Part Twelve

Ring Muggings: Part Thirteen

Ring Muggings: Part Fourteen

Ring Muggings: Part Fifteen

Ring Muggings: Part Sixteen

Ring Muggings: Part Seventeen

Ring Muggings: Part Eighteen

Ring Muggings: Part Nineteen

Ring Muggings: Part Twenty

Ring Muggings: Part Twenty-One

Ring Muggings: Part Twenty-Two

Ring Muggings: Part Twenty-Three

Ring Muggings: Part Twenty-Four

Ring Muggings: Part Twenty-Five

Ring Muggings: Part Twenty-Six

Ring Muggings: Part Twenty-Seven

Ring Muggings: Part Twenty-Eight

Ted Sares
Ted Sares
Ted Sares is one of the world’s oldest active power lifters and holds several records in the Grand Master class. A member of Ring 4’s Boxing Hall of Fame, he enjoys writing about boxing.

Filed Under: Opinion Tagged With: Robbie Epps, Tony Ayala Jr., top

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Best of The Boxing Tribune

Boxing, TV, and You

Boxing, TV, and You

My Life as a Boxer’s Wife: King Carlos Molina’s Queen (Part One)

My Life as a Boxer’s Wife: King Carlos Molina’s Queen (Part One)

Freak Show ala Mexicana; Magno’s Monday Rant

Freak Show ala Mexicana; Magno’s Monday Rant

Canelo vs. Chavez Jr. is good for boxing…and so is Mayweather-McGregor

Canelo vs. Chavez Jr. is good for boxing…and so is Mayweather-McGregor

My Life As An Aztec; Magno’s Monday Rant

My Life As An Aztec; Magno’s Monday Rant

More of The Boxing Tribune's Best

Follow Us

Facebooktwitteryoutube

Alexa Traffic Rank

Sportsbook odds for all Boxing matches

Search

Recent

  • Tyson returns with impressive display as odds available for potential future opponents
  • Crawford maintains unbeaten record following landing short odds in victory over Kell Brook
  • Kell Brook Loses In the Fourth Round To P4P King Terence Crawford
  • Boxing To Look Forward To This Weekend
  • How to Make Money From Your Boxing Passion