Garcia Effective but Uninspired in Main Event

On the excitement scale, Alex Garcia’s 10-round unanimous decision over Eddie Gonzalez at the Country Club in Reseda on Tuesday night ranked somewhere in that gray area between watching old men get haircuts and spending a weekend re-upholstering a sofa.

Even Gonzalez, of Houston, appeared bored with the bout. After the sixth round ended he followed Garcia back to his corner and swore at him.

Garcia, 213, the former national super heavyweight amateur champion, never hurt Gonzalez, 203. Gonzalez has fought most of his pro bouts as a light heavyweight.

In a bout that did provide some action, Gabriel Ruelas of Arleta won a tough but unanimous six-round decision over Freddie Santos of Tijuana in a featherweight bout. Ruelas hammered Santos in virtually every round, but the veteran Santos responded to each flurry with combinations of his own, rocking Ruelas in two different rounds.

Ruelas is 17-0. Santos is 23-11.

Rafael Ruelas, Gabriel’s brother, had a slightly easier time in his junior featherweight bout. He landed a grazing right to the head of Margarito Ruiz of Tijuana just 20 seconds into their bout, and Ruiz tumbled into a corner. Toward the end of the round, Ruiz went down again and stayed on the mat for exactly 10 seconds. Referee Lou Moret saw no punch and asked Ruiz if he wanted to continue fighting. Ruiz said no and was promptly disqualified.

“We’ll hold onto his purse,” said Don Muse, an official of the state athletic commission. “We’ll give him bus fare back to Tijuana and ask him not to come back again.”

In an earlier bout, heavyweight Rocky Pepeli of Simi Valley stirred up the most excitement on the night, knocking out former Oklahoma wrestling star J. R. Frye of Phoenix at 2:15 of the second round. He dropped Frye in the first round with a left hook, then ended the bout with a crushing right that sent Frye face first onto the mat, where he was counted out.

Pepeli is 6-2 with six knockouts. Frye is 2-1.

In other bouts, middleweight Jim Tunney, the grand nephew of former heavyweight champion Gene Tunney, was knocked out in his debut by Fred Thomas (2-1-1) of Los Angeles. The end came at 2:49 of the fourth round. Lightweight Ben Contreras of Tucson knocked out George Wally (0-1) of Van Nuys.