BOXING / TIM KAWAKAMI : These Four Southland Fighters Remain Only the Talk of Town

Among the soap operas making the boxing world churn, the Los Angeles area has one of the best.

Will Oscar De La Hoya, Genaro Hernandez and the Ruelas brothers--four junior-lightweight and lightweight champions in their prime--ever find common ground and start fighting one another?

Or will all the posturing and challenging and tension-filled handshakes fizzle into nothing?

De La Hoya has twice all but committed to fight Hernandez, but the deals collapsed. Now, promoters are talking about putting De La Hoya against Hernandez as early as January.

And, in the big one, De La Hoya and Rafael Ruelas are being guided toward what might be the most-anticipated fight between L.A. fighters in decades.

Meanwhile, Hernandez and Gabriel Ruelas seem like natural opponents, if the timing and money are right.

Lots of talk. Will it all pan out?

“For any of us to make the big money, we’re going to have to fight each other,” said Hernandez’s trainer and brother, Rudy Hernandez. “Look in the top-10 rankings at lightweight and junior-lightweight, and we’re all about the best there is.”

De La Hoya, of Montebello, the only one without a major world title, is the youngest, most famous, probably the most talented, and definitely the most controversial of the four.

Hernandez, the long-running World Boxing Assn. junior-lightweight champion from Mission Viejo by way of South Central L.A., is, at 28, the oldest, the only one of the four not promoted by Top Rank, Inc., the least recognized and most eager to get himself involved in a round of high-interest grudge matches.

Rafael Ruelas, the International Boxing Federation lightweight champion, and his brother, Gabriel, the World Boxing Council junior-lightweight titlist, are from Sylmar. They are two of the most exciting fighters in the world and don’t seem overeager to rush into anything.

“They should all be fighting each other,” said Bob Arum, who will have a major say in the process as the promoter of De La Hoya and the Ruelas brothers. “There are too many damn champions.”

The key to everything is De La Hoya. He has the big HBO deal, and he has the ability to command big purses. The last time Hernandez and De La Hoya were about to fight, Hernandez had agreed to accept $500,000--almost five times the largest purse he has ever fought for.

But with two more fights against middling opposition lined up for this year--Carl Griffith on Nov.18 and John Avila on Dec. 10--De La Hoya, coming up on his 22nd birthday, has acknowledged that he is feeling the pressure to start living up to his big-dollar promise and begin fighting world-class opponents.

Arum says he wants De La Hoya to fight either former WBC junior-lightweight champion Azumah Nelson or Hernandez in January, then set up for the Ruelas bout, possibly near the Cinco de Mayo (May 5) Mexican holiday.

“I want to start fighting huge fights in early 1995,” De La Hoya said. “I want to keep fighting huge fights, on HBO or CBS. I think I have the talent necessary to beat these guys. That’s the way I think.

“It’s the best division out there. This is like a heavyweight division. All these fighters want to fight me. If they want to do that, let them wait, right now. It’s a long line.”

It will be a long line especially as long as De La Hoya looks vulnerable. He dominated Jorge Paez last July in his debut at 135 pounds, but some observers say that the tough Paez of the past never showed up against De La Hoya, that Paez was looking for a soft place to fall.

“If I’m involved, I want to fight De La Hoya, obviously,” said promoter Dan Duva, who represents John John Molina, IBF junior-lightweight champion and a potential opponent for all four. “He’s the easiest fight and you’d get the most money.

“De La Hoya can’t fight. He’s a figment of people’s imagination. Right now, (Rafael) Ruelas would knock him out.”

Right now, Rafael Ruelas is content to think about his title defense in Hong Kong next Saturday against Britain’s Billy Schwer, then a joint defense with his brother, in either Las Vegas or the Grand Olympic Auditorium, on the weekend of the Super Bowl.

De La Hoya and the Ruelases have exchanged some tense greetings at the Big Bear gym where they train, and lately De La Hoya has been eager to talk about and try to line up a bout against Rafael Ruelas.

“If De La Hoya could put together a number of credible wins, aside from the Paez win--and some dispute that as a credible win--I think the amount of money they both could make would supersede what he and Rafael could make at this very moment or within the next two or three months,” said Joe Goossen, who trains the Ruelas brothers.

Although Arum suggested that a Hernandez-Gabriel Ruelas 130-pound unification title bout might be a perfect undercard fight for De La Hoya-Rafael Ruelas, and although he is talking about a possible De La Hoya-Hernandez bout in early 1995, Hernandez, as always, is a sticky topic.

Hernandez, at 5 feet 11, is a giant in the 130-pound class, fights a difficult, long-armed style, and, because of constant hand problems that have sidelined him for long periods, has never been able to demand large purses.

After taking a six-month break to undergo surgery on his right hand and a months-long delay waiting for Don King to put the card together, Hernandez is to defend his title Nov. 12 on the Humberto (Chiquita) Gonzalez-Michael Carbajal card in Mexico City.

Hernandez, who is promoted locally by the Forum, and his brother have gotten so frustrated with his low profile that they recently crashed a De La Hoya news conference.

“Genaro Hernandez, he’s the guy I’d least like to fight,” Duva said. “He’s experienced and, unfortunately, you could make the least amount of money fighting him.”

Said Joe Goossen: “I’d like for Gabriel to take a Hernandez fight when he has to, when the time is right. Gabriel just signed a contract with Top Rank, and I’m sure they’ve got certain things in mind for him. And I don’t think the first fight they have in mind for him is Genaro Hernandez, nor the second, nor the third, nor the fourth, Possibly, the fifth.

“But to just announce Genaro and Gabriel tomorrow, I think, would be kind of self-defeating for both guys.”

So Genaro Hernandez waits.

“Now, Oscar’s not even the talk anymore,” Rudy Hernandez said. “Everybody we meet is talking about Gabe Ruelas. I like the De La Hoya fight more because we’re in it for the money and there’s nobody else out there who can make that kind of money, other than De La Hoya. But whichever one comes first, we’ll be ready.”

If ever it comes.

Boxing Notes

Recently deposed World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis at last is taking the advice of everybody around him and is looking for a new trainer--with George Benton, former co-trainer for Evander Holyfield and Michael Moorer, the leading contender to get the job. Lewis is apparently considering hiring Benton but not Benton’s partner, Lou Duva. Lewis fired Pepe Correa, widely criticized for failing to alter Lewis’ lumbering style, after Lewis was knocked out by Oliver McCall.

There are ominous rumbles coming out of Hong Kong as next Saturday’s card comes into view. Last week, the manager of Herbie Hide and Stephen Collins, two of the featured fighters, complained that checks from lead promoter John Daly were bouncing. This week, the check for the hotel in Hong Kong bounced, and co-promoter Top Rank, Inc., apparently had to jump in with more money than Bob Arum had planned to keep the card from falling apart. The headline bout is Hide, the World Boxing Organization heavyweight champion, against Tommy Morrison and top undercard fights include Frank Bruno-Ray Mercer and Rafael Ruelas-Billy Schwer.

Would Genaro Hernandez, who is to fight on Don King’s card Nov. 12 in Mexico City because King won the purse bid for the bout, ever consider becoming one of King’s fighters? “They asked us about it,” said Rudy Hernandez, Genaro’s brother and trainer. “But, I don’t think so. He has so many fighters and they’re all locked up and they all are sitting around waiting for him to get them fights. If anybody, he can make Genaro a superstar, I know, because King has the connections. But there’s the controversial thing. Plus, he doesn’t get along with Bob Arum, doesn’t do fights with Bob Arum, and Bob Arum has the three other fighters in the division we want to fight. So I don’t think that’s to our interest. We want to keep those doors open.”