The Greatest Knockout Artist
of All Time: ALCOHOL
Part II
Tony Ayala’s ruthlessness and ferociousness in the ring as a super middleweight from 1980 to 1982 helped him to go undefeated. He was only a few fights away from a world title when his ring traits and demon driven sexuality got the best of him, again. It just happened to be Christmas day of 1982 when Tony got sizzling high by downing booze and adding fuel to the fire by stomaching drugs as chasers. He was then ready to romp and play and he scoured a neighborhood in Passaic, New Jersey, spotted a mark, broke into her home, tied and blindfolded the victim and then raped her, all the time holding a knife to her throat. What he didn’t figure on was getting caught and sent to prison and a little justice being meted out. But he was caught, tried, and convicted and sent to prison for thirty-five years. However, just when he was about to be justly forgotten, a prison psychologist, Brian Raditz, was buffaloed by Tony and not only did he help get ‘El Torito’ out of prison in 1999, he became his manager. That stinks doesn’t it?
It wasn’t pretty in the outside world for Tony. Prosecutor Marilyn Zdobinsky of Passaic knew there was improprieties going on and wanted him to serve his entre sentence. Raditz did arrange a four fight one million dollar deal but the promoter was wary that Tony Jr. was still a sick person who at nightfall was drinking and drugging again and turning into a monster. He was right. Tony Jr. went stalking again in San Antonio, stalking young Nancy Gomez who worked out at his father’s gym. This time however, there was some teenager’s that didn’t back down; Nancy was on a couch and awoke when she heard someone break into the home and woke up her roommates, Sandra Gutierrez and her boyfriend. Gutierrez slipped up on Tony in the laundry room with a .45 caliber handgun pointed right at his chest. It was “hands up Mother Fucker, if you move I will shoot you.” Gomez called the police and Gutierrez, who was undressed, gave the gun to Gomez to watch Tony while she got some clothes and told her, “Shoot him if he even moves.” Tony tried his sweet talk routine on young Gomez and then reached out to take the gun away. She wasn’t buying his routine and fired a slug directly into his shoulder. Case closed; Tony would soon be back in prison and the streets of America at least safe from one serial rapist. Safe too was the title that might have been. Booze and drugs knocked out another contender as expected. So is the price of a world championship always costly if one isn’t clean? Ask Aaron Pryor.
Aaron Pryor’s spectacular career was good enough to get him inducted into many boxing hall of fames. The underlying question about his career is that his contemptible manager, Panama Lewis, and his known depravity in the game might necessitate an asterisk alongside Pryor’s championship accomplishments as Light welterweight king. Pryor, from a Cincinnati, Ohio ghetto rung up over 200 amateur fights and took the gold medal lightweight championship at the AAU’s in 1973 and gold in 1976 Golden Gloves National Championships as a light welterweight. He didn’t make the Olympic team so he turned professional in 1977 and blew away all competition for the next three years, picking up the nickname ‘Hawk’ along the way. Only Johnny Summerhays, also from Cincinnati, lasted the distance with Pryor. Pryor’s sparkling 22-0 record was sufficient to gain a shot at Antonio Cervantes title and he quickly took Tony’s WBA belt by way of a fourth round knockout on February 8, 1980.
Pryor defended the title five more times before his management arranged a fight for the ages, November 12, 1982 in Miami, Florida against one of boxing all-time greats, Alexis Arguello. Arguello was a phenomenal fighter and puncher and thus the gamblers made him the favorite over the tough kid. The fight turned out as prognosticated, one of the best of the century. But it was Pryor winning by TKO in the 14th round and Arguello putting up a tremendously game fight but unable to withstand the extraordinary punching power and late round freshness of his opponent. Most memorable for those watching the fight and especially for Arguello is the fact that both fighters went to their corners at the end of the 13th round fully exhausted. There between rounds for all the world viewers to hear and see was trainer Panama Lewis screaming at another corner man to give him the black bottle. He did and Lewis had Pryor drink and gulp the mixture down. Pryor came out for the 14th round like his battery had been recharged. He swarmed all over Arguello with barrage after barrage of non-stop combinations resulting in the referee stopping the fight. Pryor won but a huge question mark was on the minds of millions. What was in the bottle?
When he was questioned after the fight about the substance, Lewis told the authorities that he gave Pryor merely a blend of club soda, honey and schnapps from the black bottle. Fine and dandy but the bottle was never produced and from all sources checked, there doesn’t appear to be any evidence that Pryor appeared for his post fight drug test. Besides, years later Lewis would claim the bottle was just plain water mixed with Perrier water and ice, stuff to give a boxer a real lift. That is bull---t, pure bull corn, show me the scientific evidence. And poor Arguello, he never was the same fighter again and suffered immensely from his head injuries It was reported that he also begin to have a drinking problem, but not for long. He did get a rematch on September 9th, 1983 in Las Vegas where Pryor took him out much easier in ten rounds. More questions? Oh Yes, about Panama.
Panama Lewis’ history in boxing is that of a scalawag at best and worse, a convicted criminal with time in the Big House for his lousy corner shenanigans. I get a near case of shingles just looking back at his dirty deeds, one of which ended a promising boxer’s career and eventually, internal horror and death. The boxer was highly regarded Irish Billy Collins versus a good amateur but so-so professional fighter named Luis Resto who had only registered eight knockouts in thirty fights. Billy was a heavy favorite on June 16, 1983 when the two fighters appeared on WBC’s ‘Wide World of Sports’ in a ten rounder at Madison Square Garden in New York.
From the opening bell Collins took a thrashing. After many rounds he would tell his father in the corner, “Dad, he is a lot stronger than I thought; a lot stronger than I thought.” It was likely clear to Collins father hat there was something like bricks in Resto’s gloves, some chicanery going on. Somehow Collins survived the ten rounds but he had been butchered and nearly slaughtered. His suspicious father went to Resto’s corner to congratulate him and grabbed a gloved hand. No surprise, he grabbed pure knuckles. The ref and boxing authorities were informed and upon examination of Restos’ gloves, it was discovered the inner palms had been cut open and a few ounces of horsehair had been removed. He was fighting with a lethal weapon and a man’s life hung in the balance. The courts eventually got the facts, secured the evidence and Resto and Lewis were sent to prison for assault, conspiracy, and possession of a deadly weapon. The boxing commission made the bout a no contest and barred the convicted men for life from boxing. Good, but all of that court fight didn’t help Irish Billy.
The severe head injuries he suffered in the bout from the lethal weapon became so violent that he couldn’t keep a job. He suffered from blurred vision too and drank heavily to fight off the pain. On the night of March 6th 1984, Billy drank the night away, got into his 1972 Oldsmobile Cutlass and drove his life away. He was only twenty-three and there is strong conjecture about his death being a suicide.
Now, let me fast forward to 2008.
Luis Resto kept his part of the deal silent for years and years. Twenty five years after the fight, he called a news conference and not only told the truth about the gloves being manipulated by Lewis but that Lewis had also put plaster on his handwraps. Teddy Atlas doubted the new allegation but I doubt Teddy Atlas. As for Panama Lewis, sure I believe Resto, If Lewis would go to the extremes of risking a boxers life in a non - title ten round bout, what ends might he go to in a championship fight? He was Pryor’s man and the little black box could have been chock full of trouble for any opponent.
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