Elvin Ayala. Curtis “Showtime” Stevens. One quotes rap albums while the other quotes the Bible. One is not afraid to smile, while the other appears, no matter where he is, like he’d rather be somewhere else. The shorter Stevens has a reputation as a knockout puncher. The long-armed Ayala is more of an awkward boxer.
Opposites in many ways, both fighters hope to get it on in the future. Last Friday, Ayala, 12-0 (5 KOs), gave the best performance of his career, according to Hall of Fame promoter Rusell Peltz, in registering a fifth-round TKO at the New Haven Athletic Center.
After Ayala’s previous fight, at Foxwoods Casino back in May in which Ayala notched a six-round decision victory over Raynard Darden, Stevens told Boxingtalk he wants to fight Ayala. Stevens was not impressed with the New Haven fighter’s win. Two months before Darden fought Ayala, he got taken out by Stevens in less than two rounds.
The Brooklyn-bred Stevens has been getting a lot of hype because he’s a big puncher, from New York, and has fought most of his bouts under the glare of the New York media. As far as Ayala is concerned, hype doesn’t win fights. After his victory on Telefutura last week, Ayala was given the opportunity to respond to Stevens calling him out.
While Stevens has been garnering a lot of attention, out of his seven victories, three of the fighters had never even notched a win prior to facing the New Yorker, and two others had more losses on their record than wins, according to boxrec.com, a site promoters and fighters use to check out who their potential foes have fought.
“I have to say to Curtis, keep knocking these guys out,” said Ayala. “Whatever. When it’s time for us to meet, we will meet. I’ll never duck him. If they set up a show for us to fight, I’ll definitely fight the guy.
“It will be a great fight. He’s a bull and I’m a matador, one of those guys that makes the bulls look crazy.”
Ayala thinks Stevens may have made a mistake in calling him out. “Sometimes, if you ask God for a certain woman, and that woman is poison, you know, God will give it to you, because he loves you, so sometimes you’ve got to be careful what you wish for.”
Even though Stevens is considered the knockout puncher in a match-up between the two, Ayala says it is he who will score the knockout victory.
“I’ll fight him in my hometown or his hometown, because I won’t need a decision, and if it does go to a decision and they give it to him, they’ll know it’s plain robbery, so it won’t matter.”
Ayala takes pride in making guys who have reputations as big punchers look stupid.
“Curtis is a bull,” said Ayala. “He’ll run into punches by himself, so he’ll beat himself up with my fists.”
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