Ruelas, Lopez Head Irvine Card Tonight

Rafael Ruelas, one of the best fighters to appear at the Irvine Marriott, is featured in tonight’s main event.

Ruelas has been the top-ranked lightweight contender by the World Boxing Council and the International Boxing Federation for about a year.

Ruelas, a Sylmar resident who was born in Mexico, is 37-1 with 29 knockouts.

He takes on Conny Lopez (18-6 with six knockouts) of Mexico in the main event.

Ruelas hopes to use tonight’s bout as a tune-up for his next fight, which is expected to a title bout in December with IBF champion Freddie Pendleton in Las Vegas.

In his most-recent fight, Ruelas defeated Darryl Tyson in a 10-round decision last month. Ruelas had only about a week to prepare for that bout because he was replacing Oscar De La Hoya, who hurt his left hand in training.

Daniel Dancuta, a heavyweight from Romania who lives in Anaheim, is expected to fight in the six-round semi-main event.

Dancuta (5-1) has had a tough time getting bouts recently. His last two scheduled opponents at the Marriott dropped out the day of the fight. He is scheduled to take on George Omara (12-9) tonight.

The first of five scheduled bouts starts at 7:30 p.m. and tickets--priced at $35, $32, and $25--go on sale at 10 a.m. today in the grand ballroom.

The card originally was scheduled for Aug. 26 but was moved to tonight because of a scheduling conflict at the hotel.