Elvin Ayala (born January 15, 1981) is an American professional boxer. He is a former world-title challenger.

Early life Born in Reading, Pennsylvania, but raised in New Haven, Connecticut, Ayala took up boxing as a way to stay off the streets and out of trouble. He credits former light heavyweight world champion Chad Dawson as one of his early influences.

"I really didn’t have any schooling," Ayala said, "and there were drugs everywhere I grew up. When I came to Connecticut, Chad was coming up at the time and becoming a star and making money, and I’m like, 'Wait, you can make money off this?'

"I didn’t want to live a life where I had to look over my shoulder all the time, but I still needed to make money. I didn’t want to live in poverty anymore."

Professional career

At the age of 22, Ayala made his professional debut on September 19, 2003, with a unanimous decision win over Michael Gutrick in Toms River, New Jersey, a short distance from his hometown of Reading, Pennsylvania.

Within a year, Ayala improved his professional record to 7–0 with one knockout. On November 11, 2004, Ayala earned his eighth professional win by knocking out Chance Leggett, then 11–3, in the seventh round of a scheduled eight-round bout at The Roxy in Boston, Massachusetts. The victory over Leggett began a stretch of three consecutive knockout wins for Ayala.

Ayala eventually won his first 16 fights before facing his toughest test to date against future The Contender reality television participant David Banks, who was 12-1-1 at the time, on November 24, 2006, at The Roxy. Ayala lost a narrow split decision, 94–97, 95–96, 96-94 — the first loss of his professional career. Three months later, Ayala faced Banks again, this time losing by unanimous decision, 91–99, 93–97, 94–96, at Mohegan Sun in February 2007.

Ayala bounced back with back-to-back wins against Dillon Carew and Jose Angel Roman in Connecticut and closed the year with arguably his most impressive performance in a controversial draw against then-unbeaten The Contender Season 1 champion Sergio Mora at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. Ayala lost, 91–99, on judge David Mendoza's scorecard, but won the bout, 96–94, on Raul Caiz Jr.'s scorecard. Max DeLuca judged the bout even at 95-95.

The draw dropped Ayala's record to 18-2-1, setting up the biggest fight of Ayala's young career — a showdown against undefeated International Boxing Federation (IBF) middleweight world champion Arthur Abraham. The bout took place on March 29, 2008, in Germany two months after Ayala's 27th birthday. Abraham won the majority of the rounds, sending Ayala to the canvas in the fifth, and finished Ayala for good via 12th-round knockout with just 28 seconds remaining in the fight. Abraham improved to 26–0 with the win, which was also his seventh world-title defense.

Following a 10-month stretch of inactivity, Ayala returned with back-to-back wins against Antony Bartinelli and Eddie Caminero before losing a United States Boxing Association (USBA) middleweight title bout against former world-title challenger Lajuan Simon by unanimous decision at the Palms Casino Resort.

Ayala then traveled to Montreal, Quebec in June 2010 to face hometown favorite David Lemieux, who entered the bout at 22–0 with 21 knockouts, on ESPN's Friday Night Fights for the WBC International middleweight title. Ayala hit the canvas three times in the opening round and lost by technical knockout at the 2:44 mark. "There were so many excuses after the loss [to Lemieux]. Everyone had all these reasons," Ayala said. “I felt the only reason was because I was too heavy and had to lose the weight rapidly. I was drained. Who can fight like that? My four-year-old daughter could’ve hit me that day and knocked me out."

After his loss to Lemieux, Ayala stringed together six wins against lesser opposition and won the USNBC title along the way. Ayala would then lose a fight to Curtis Stevens for the NABF title via round 1 stoppage. Stevens overpowered Ayala, knocking him down twice in the first round.

Ayala won an upset unanimous decision (78-74, 78–74, 77–75) over Mayweather Promotions prospect Ronald Gavril. However, Ayala would lose his next fight to Sergiy Derevyanchenko by unanimous decision. In November 2016, Ayala defeated Marcos Reyes by round 7 TKO. This was Ayala's first stoppage win in over 4 years.

Professional boxing record

ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationMore43Loss29–13–1 Bakhram MurtazalievTKO9 (10), Feb 2, 2019 42Loss29–12–1 Patrick DayUD10Oct 27, 2018 41Loss29–11–1 Alantez FoxUD8Sep 22, 2018 40Loss29–10–1 Vaughn AlexanderTKO7 (10), Oct 5, 2017 39Loss29–9–1 Junior CastilloUD12Apr 27, 2017 38Win29–8–1 Marcos ReyesTKO7 (10), Nov 3, 2016 37Loss28–8–1 Christopher BrookerMD8Sep 9, 2016 36Loss28–7–1 Sergiy DerevyanchenkoUD8Aug 7, 2015 35Win28–6–1 Ronald GavrilUD8Mar 28, 2015 34Win27–6–1 Aaron MitchellUD6Jan 17, 2015 33Loss26–6–1 Curtis StevensKO1 (10), Jan 19, 2013 32Win26–5–1 John MackeyTKO9 (10), Jul 21, 2012 31Win25–5–1 Eric MitchellUD8Mar 30, 2012 30Win24–5–1 Derrick FindleyUD10Jul 29, 2011 29Win23–5–1 George ArmentaRTD4 (8), May 6, 2011 28Win22–5–1 Joe Gardner4 (6), Apr 1, 2011 27Win21–5–1 Mustafah JohnsonUD6Feb 4, 2011 26Loss20–5–1 David LemieuxKO1 (12), Jun 11, 2010 25Loss20–4–1 Lajuan SimonUD12Oct 17, 2009 24Win20–3–1 Eddie CamineroTKO3 (6), Jun 27, 2009 23Win19–3–1 Anthony BartinelliUD8Jan 23, 2009 22Loss18–3–1 Arthur AbrahamKO12 (12), Mar 29, 2008 21Draw18–2–1 Sergio Mora10Oct 16, 2007 20Win18–2 Jose Angel RomanUD8Jun 29, 2007 19Win17–2 Dillon CarewTKO2 (6)Jun 9, 2007 18Loss16–2 David BanksUD10Feb 23, 2007 17Loss16–1 David Banks10Nov 24, 2006 16Win16–0 John GottschlingTKO1 (6), Jul 21, 2006 15Win15–0 Larry Marks10Jun 17, 2006 14Win14–0 Virgil McClendonTKO4 (6), May 10, 2006 13Win13–0 William GillUD6Mar 31, 2006 12Win12–0 David EstradaTKO5 (8), Jul 8, 2005 11Win11–0 Raynard DardenUD6May 6, 2005 10Win10–0 Jose MedinaTKO4 (6), Apr 1, 2005 9Win9–0 Mack WillisTKO2 (6)Dec 17, 2004 8Win8–0 Chance Leggett7 (8), Nov 11, 2004 7Win7–0 Julio JeanUD6Aug 27, 2004 6Win6–0 Jacob RodriguezUD6Jun 12, 2004 5Win5–0 Aundalen SloanUD6May 7, 2004 4Win4–0 Chris TroupeUD4Jan 30, 2004 3Win3–0 Keith SonleyUD4Jan 9, 2004 2Win2–0 Darus Hunter1 (4), Nov 11, 2003 1Win1–0 Michael Gutrick4Sep 19, 2003

References

External links

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