THE SHOWDOWN: BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE DE LA HOYA-RUELAS FIGHT : RAFAEL RUELAS : ‘Raphael’ & Co. Arrive in Las Vegas

“Welcome Raphael Ruelas.”

It was an honest mistake, except that it appeared in 20-foot block letters on the giant neon Caesars Palace marquee on Las Vegas Boulevard.

While it is true that Ruelas is a lesser-known household name than Oscar De La Hoya, his Saturday night opponent, it is also true his first name is Rafael. So much for Day 1 and the welcome wagon.

Ruelas wasn’t supposed to arrive until today, but trainer Joe Goossen decided over the weekend to break training in Big Bear a day early. “We were just going berserk up there, me more than anybody,” Goossen said.

Monday, Rafael and brother Gabriel Ruelas each received an hour massage by a therapist at the Studio City Oriental Medical Center, then were flown from Van Nuys to Las Vegas on a jet owned by Las Vegas businessman Ron Tutor.

The entourage arrived in the afternoon. The next few hours were spent trying to get Gabriel, who is fighting on the undercard, a room closer to Rafael’s at the hotel.

Goossen said Rafael will not spar or do heavy bag work this week as he prepares for his lightweight showdown with De La Hoya.

“We don’t want to do nothing, but we definitely don’t want to do too much this week,” Goossen said. “This is called ‘shaking it out.’ We’ll do a lot of shadow boxing; we want to stay in the ring.

“Every trainer has a different point of view. Some guys have their guys sparring up until a day or two before the fight. But (Rafael) is not going to forget how to fight between now and Saturday.”