THE SHOWDOWN / BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE RUELAS-DE LA HOYA FIGHT : RAFAEL RUELAS : Don’t Mess With This Kid

On Jan. 17, 1989, Rafael and Gabriel Ruelas made their professional boxing debuts.

At Caesars Palace.

The stakes are significantly higher this weekend for Rafael against Oscar De La Hoya, but Ruelas says one theme is consistent. He was underestimated then, and now.

Ruelas remembers sitting in a restaurant the day before his first fight and making eye contact with his opponent, Marcos Covarrubias.

It was a look Ruelas had seen before. The frail, baby-faced Ruelas was four months shy of his 18th birthday.

“He looked at me like, ‘Hey, I’m fighting a kid,’ ” Ruelas said. “That’s the sense I got.”

Ruelas won a four-round decision.

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The Ruelas brothers went through six sparring partners during training.

“Six injured or fleeing partners,” trainer Joe Goossen said. “Two guys ran out in the beginning. One guy left after three days. I brought up another 140-pounder. He left after three days. Took the money and ran.”

Rafael ran off four partners by himself; one suffered a broken nose.

To prepare for the 1992 Olympics at Barcelona, trainer Al Stankie brought De La Hoya in to spar with the Ruelases at the Goossen Gym in Van Nuys.

De La Hoya was supposed to stay two weeks.

“He left after two days,” Rafael said.

Goossen recalls of the sessions: “I don’t put much credence into that, but in the back of their minds, who left feeling right and who left feeling wrong?” Asked this week if the sparring sessions were too difficult, De La Hoya shrugged.

“Rafael’s saying that?” he said. “I don’t know about that one. I just remember I sparred with him twice. From the sparring, I know what punches to throw, which ones are going to land, that’s for sure.”

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Rafael thinks De La Hoya lacks his passion when it comes to boxing. “He’s doing it more for the money than the sport,” Ruelas said.

Asked about De La Hoya’s love for golf, Ruelas said: “Good. Maybe after this he will consider a career in golf.”