Ayala realizes win may pave way for payday

Dean Juipe

Thursday, June 10, 2004 | 9:30 a.m.

Paulie Ayala knows what people are thinking.

He knows they believe Marco Antonio Barrera is bigger and probably stronger and maybe apt to win their June 19 fight.

But he also knows himself, knows his record in key fights is superb and realizes fighting Barrera is a chance he had to take.

"Barrera's looking to make a statement in this fight, but so am I," Ayala said this week from his home in Fort Worth, Texas, where he spent the past six weeks readying himself for Barrera and their intriguing featherweight fight at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.

HBO will televise.

Ayala, 34, is 35-2 and a former World Boxing Association bantamweight champion.

Barrera, 30, is 57-4 in a storied career but is coming off a loss to Manny Pacquiao.

The loser of the fight in Carson may not be pushed into retirement but will be relegated to a lesser stature, while the winner can look forward to several provocative options. The featherweight division is populated by a number of significant fighters, including Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez and leading prospect Rocky Jaurez.

"One of the reasons to take this fight is the huge opportunity that will come after it for whoever wins," Ayala said. "That's why I've been preparing so hard. It's a big fight, a very important fight."

Ayala, a southpaw, has lost only to Joichiro Tatsuyoshi by sixth-round technical decision in 1998 in Japan and to Erik Morales two years ago in Las Vegas. He owns two wins apiece against Johnny Tapia and Bones Adams in all-action fights at Mandalay Bay.

But his first fight at featherweight came against Morales, and while it brought him a $1 million payday it also saw him defeated by 6, 6 and 2 points on the judges' cards. Ayala landed 185 of 852 punches in a fight in which a mesmerizing 1,813 total punches were thrown.

"I think I've filled in to this weight," Ayala said of fighting at 126 pounds. "I'm not getting any younger and I realize this is the weight I need to be."

He said, though, that it troubled him to leave the super bantamweight division.

"I had the Ring Magazine belt and I was trying to be loyal, but I just didn't have any real reason to retain it," he said. "It was a hard decision to give it up, but I did. It was sad."

He said he'd "have to dig deep" to ever get back to 122 and he didn't expect to be asked to do it.

His "walking-around" weight is 145 pounds.

"I know Barrera is assuming he'll be stronger than me," Ayala said. "But speed is going to be an important part of this fight, and that favors me.

"I'm also going to key in on some of the weaknesses I see (in Barrera). He has very few faults but he does have a few, and that's why he's been beaten."

Barrera, who was 15 years old when he began his pro career, looked to be in decline after consecutive losses to Junior Jones in 1996 and '97 and one to Morales in 2000, but he rebounded to defeat Naseem Hamed, Tapia, Morales in a rematch and Kevin Kelley before running into a buzz saw in Pacquiao last November in San Antonio.

Pacquiao landed 257 power shots to Barrera's 101 in winning by 11th-round TKO. Up by 9, 7 and 7 points at the time of the stoppage, Pacquiao had Barrera down in rounds 3 and 11 and bloodied by the time he and his corner relented.

Barrera has since declined a fight against a lesser opponent, Ivan Alvarez, but was more than ready to take one with Ayala.

"I was expecting him to take this fight when it was offered to him," Ayala said. "He's looking for a significant fight and he's ready to get right back in the mix, as am I."

Trained by Henry Mendez, Ayala said he "felt a little rusty" when camp opened but that the diligent work he has put in has paid off.

"I don't spar just for recreation," he said. "So when I'm in camp, I take it seriously. It's not touch and go -- I want my sparring partners to fight me like we're actually fighting.

"In the long run I think that preserves my body. Besides, if I can't get ready for a fight in six weeks, maybe I ought to get out of the game."

But he's not ready to get out of the game and he doesn't believe Barrera is either.

"I don't see him as a 'shot' fighter," Ayala said. "He's a calculated fighter who recently has become more of a counterpuncher.

"He's had bad nights before but has always bounced back. I think he thinks he can do it again."