Manuel “Tino” Avila debuted on November 18, 2010 at Club Nokia in Los Angeles. It not only marked the beginning of a career as a professional boxer, but also a ten year run as a Golden Boy fighter. Within the first 6 years, his record stood at 22 wins, 0 losses, 0 draws, with 8 wins by KO (22-0-0). Not bad for a kid from the Fairfield-Vacaville area, whose 22 fights at that point were all in California, with a fair number of them being close to home. The latter was important to Avila as it brought boxing to his hometown and the nearby communities. Many of those fights were televised on Solo Boxeo Tecate or Fox Sports. These local events were handled by Paco Damian of Paco Presents Boxing, who worked in conjunction with Golden Boy Promotions. The pride his hometown felt for Avila as being “their” fighter earned him the title back then of “El Orgullo de Vacaville”.
In 2017, Avila (22-0-0) received a title shot at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on the undercard of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. His opponent, Joseph “Jo Jo” Diaz, had a record that stood at 23-0-0. It would also mark the first time Avila fought outside of the state of California, even if it was only by some 45 miles from the California-Nevada stateline. This match was going to be a tough one, featuring two undefeated fighters, both signed by Golden Boy, whose records were separated by just a one win difference. The two would be vying for the NABF featherweight title (which Diaz had held since 2015) and the vacant WBO NABO featherweight title. After 10 rounds the fight went to the judges and Avila was handed his first loss at the hands of Diaz, who took the win by unanimous decision
That would be Avila’s last fight with Golden Boy, but not for the lack of desire on his part. For over a year, Avila was supposed to fight fellow Golden Boy fighter Diego De La Hoya, Oscar De La Hoya’s cousin from Mexicali. Ironically, Diego De La Hoya suffered his first loss at the hands of Ronnie Rios, by KO, on the same fight card in 2019 that Avila had loss to Gonzalez. Despite his desire to fight anyone that was available, according to Avila, Golden Boy appeared determined to only make De La Hoya available as his next opponent. But it was a fight that was never to happen, as it got postponed several times, and then the pandemic struck. Eventually, Avila’s Golden Boy contract expired and he was left without both a fight and a promoter.
Despite having an otherwise impressive record that he earned while signed with Golden Boy Promotions, boxing wasn’t paying Avila’s bills, particularly towards the end when he was not being given a fight. Financial obligations, like raising a family and maintaining a household, required a fulltime job. Training, out of necessity, was often pushed to the bottom of the list of priorities. These were certainly among the factors, including past injuries, that effected Avila and weighed heavily on his mind. Avila contemplated retiring from boxing altogether, and may actually have been “retired” for all of a year, more or less. Complexities aside, he still had a burning desire to fight and in a way, he had not so much as walked away from boxing as it had kind of walked away from him. Simply stated, he came to the conclusion that he still had unfinished business to take care of in the ring. With the support of his wife, they found a way to make it work so he could get back into the ring once again.
So on February 17, 2023, after nearly 4 years of inactivity, Avila would once again climb through the ropes and enter the ring for the 27th time as a professional boxer. On a fight card promoted by Paco Damian in Tijuana, Mexico, Avila had finally found both a fight and a promoter, with the latter being a person he had a long and close relationship with. For a comeback fight it was a tough one, and not just because of the 4 years he had been out of the ring. Rather, his opponent, Ruben Tostado Garcia (25-11-0), was a very sly fighter who did his best to frustrate Avila at every opportunity. Using a variety of tactics, some which might be considered questionable, he managed to test both Avila’s patience and skills. Nevertheless, Avila proved to be the better fighter, and despite the difficulties he encountered, earned the win by unanimous decision. Avila quickly followed up with another win on April 7, 2023 at Cache Creek Casino in Northern California and his record now stands at 25-2-1 (9 KOs).
After 13 years in the pro ranks, with nearly 4 year of those on inactive status for the latter part of it, Avila is back to fighting and is committed to winning. He is looking to re-establish his ranking and wants to make a statement in the sport. Needless to say, his aim is to not only be relevant, but to eventually capture an elusive championship belt, something that had been denied to him in the past. He’s certainly off to a good start, or perhaps I should say, a good restart…
