THE SHOWDOWN / BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE RUELAS-DE LA HOYA FIGHT : OSCAR DE LA HOYA : After 158 Rounds, He’s Ready

Oscar De La Hoya has completed his heavy work for Saturday’s lightweight title bout against Rafael Ruelas, and, after 158 rounds of sparring, will spend the final days of preparation shadowboxing and doing light drills.

“We’ve never sparred more than 120 rounds before,” trainer Robert Alcazar said, “but we wanted to be especially ready for this fight.”

De La Hoya, who has weighed 134 pounds--one less than the lightweight limit--for several weeks, says he feels confident because of the extra work and jokes that there is only one way Ruelas can win.

“If the ‘the Fan Man’ comes flying into the ring and hits me on the head or something,” De La Hoya said, referring to the sky-diver who crashed into the ring and interrupted the Evander Holyfield-Riddick Bowe heavyweight rematch in November, 1993, at Caesars Palace’s outdoor arena.

This will be De La Hoya’s first outdoor professional fight, but he said he welcomes the expected windy, 90-degree environment. “I think it’s going to help me because of the fresh air that’s blowing here in Vegas,” he said.

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De La Hoya, who worried that the referee assigned to this bout might be Mills Lane--the man De La Hoya thought mishandled his grueling bout against John John Molina in February--was put at ease Wednesday when Richard Steele was named as referee.