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Ada "Ace" Vélez (born September 15, 1969) is a Puerto Rican female professional boxer from Dania Beach, Florida who lives in Miami. Vélez was brought into boxing by former women's boxing world champion Bonnie Canino.

CareerEdit

After a successful undefeated amateur career that included a national title, Vélez became the first native Puerto Rican to win a women's world boxing championship on January 19, 2001, when she defeated Kathy Williams on a unanimous decision over 10 rounds to win the IBA bantamweight title. Ten months later, she moved up in weight and challenged undefeated Mary Elizabeth Ortega for the WIBA super bantamweight title, again winning a 10-round unanimous decision.

Vélez won her first 10 pro fights before suffering her first loss as a professional, in her first defense of the WIBA title. On June 21, 2002, Melissa Del Valle decisioned Vélez in Waco, Texas in the featured bout on an all-women's card featuring world champions Ann Wolfe, Sumya Anani, Delia Gonzalez and Kelsey Jeffries.

On December 21, she bounced back to reclaim the IBA version of the world bantamweight title by decisioning Lakeysha Williams over 10 rounds.

Vélez has added the WIBA bantamweight title to her IBA belt on June 28, 2003, when she beat Gonzalez on a seventh-round disqualification.

Vélez traveled to Denmark to defend her WIBA bantamweight title against Anita Christensen. on January 17, 2004, Vélez lost a highly controversial 10 round split decision to Christensen. Vélez had knocked down Christensen in the 9th round, and looked to be the obvious winner of their encounter. The Danish press strongly criticized this decision, saying on record that Vélez was robbed of her title.

She fought Melinda Cooper for the vacant IBF super-bantamweight title at the National Stadium in San José, Costa Rica, on 31 March 2011, winning by split decision with two of the ringside judges scoring the contest 96-94 in her favour while the third had it for her opponent by the same tally. A rematch on 20 November 2011 saw Vélez retain her title by majority decision. One judge scored the fight a 95-95 draw but was overruled by the other two who scored it in her favour 98-92 and 97-93 respectively.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

She now teaches kids, teens, and adults boxing at Velez Boxing and Fitness in Oakland Park, Florida. She makes them do exercise machines, running, strength and conditioning, and boxing.

Vélez was inducted into the International Women's Boxing Hall of Fame in 2017.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Professional boxing recordEdit

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Template:Abbr Result Record Opponent Type Round, time Date Location Notes
28 Template:No2Loss 20–5–3 Jessica Rakoczy UD 10 2013-01-24 Template:Small Template:Small
27 Template:No2Loss 20–4–3 Katy Wilson Castillo UD 10 2012-03-24 Template:Small Template:Small
26 Template:Yes2Win 20–3–3 Melinda Cooper MD 10 2011-11-20 Template:Small Template:Small
25 Template:Yes2Win 19–3–3 Melinda Cooper SD 10 2011-03-31 Template:Small Template:Small
24 Template:Yes2Win 18–3–3 Mary Ortega UD 6 2010-12-10 Template:Small
23 Template:Yes2Win 17–3–3 Stacey Reile UD 8 2010-02-27 Template:Small
22 Template:DrawDraw 16–3–3 Kaliesha West MD 6 2010-01-21 Template:Small
21 Template:Yes2Win 16–3–2 Kasha Chamblin UD 10 2007-11-24 Template:Small Template:Small
20 Template:Yes2Win 15–3–2 Jackie Chavez MD 6 2007-09-21 Template:Small
19 Template:No2Loss 14–3–2 Jeri Sitzes UD 6 2007-08-10 Template:Small
18 Template:No2Loss 14–2–2 Anita Christensen Template:Abbr 10 2004-01-17 Template:Small Template:Small
17 Template:DrawDraw 14–1–2 Lisa Brown Template:Abbr 10 2003-10-30 Template:Small Template:Small
16 Template:Yes2Win 14–1–1 Delia Gonzalez DQ 7 (10), Template:Small 2003-06-28 Template:Small Template:Small
15 Template:Yes2Win 13–1–1 Leona Brown Template:Abbr 7 (8), Template:Small 2003-03-29 Template:Small
14 Template:Yes2Win 12–1–1 Lakeysha Williams UD 10 2002-12-20 Template:Small Template:Small
13 Template:Yes2Win 11–1–1 Rolanda Andrews TKO 4 (6), Template:Small 2002-11-09 Template:Small
12 Template:DrawDraw 10–1–1 Layla McCarter Template:Abbr 6 2002-07-18 Template:Small Template:Small
11 Template:No2Loss 10–1 Melissa Del Valle UD 10 2002-06-21 Template:Small Template:Small
10 Template:Yes2Win 10–0 Angie Bordelon TKO 2 (6), Template:Small 2002-01-25 Template:Small
9 Template:Yes2Win 9–0 Mary Ortega UD 10 2001-11-16 Template:Small Template:Small
8 Template:Yes2Win 8–0 Jamillia Lawrence Template:Abbr 4 2001-06-29 Template:Small
7 Template:Yes2Win 7–0 Kathy Williams UD 10 2001-01-19 Template:Small Template:Small
6 Template:Yes2Win 6–0 Linda Tenberg UD 8 2000-12-15 Template:Small
5 Template:Yes2Win 5–0 Lisa Foster TKO 2 (4), Template:Small 2000-11-15 Template:Small
4 Template:Yes2Win 4–0 Pamela Opdyke TKO 3 (6), Template:Small 2000-10-18 Template:Small
3 Template:Yes2Win 3–0 Jamie Chartrand TKO 2 (4), Template:Small 2000-10-08 Template:Small
2 Template:Yes2Win 2–0 Sue Chase Template:Abbr 4 2000-06-30 Template:Small
1 Template:Yes2Win 1–0 Jocelyn Fontanilla Template:Abbr 3 (4), Template:Small 1999-08-21 Template:Small

See alsoEdit

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ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

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