Lightweight Bout, Heavy Emotions : Boxing: De La Hoya against Ruelas tonight is a rarity for the sport: a match made at the right time.

By TIM KAWAKAMI

May 6, 1995 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

LAS VEGAS —

Here is a fight, at last, that is more than a dull echo of the roaring past.

Here are two fighters, finally, who represent new life and energy for boxing.

Maybe in Oscar De La Hoya, a 22-year-old, flippant millionaire who enters the Caesars Palace ring tonight with unquestioned strength and skills, a superstar’s smile and nagging doubts about his ability to survive a test of wills, you do not see a young Sugar Ray Leonard or Thomas Hearns.

And maybe in Rafael Ruelas, a 24-year-old who has hammered his way through a six-year professional career with a fearlessness that has elevated him to the International Boxing Federation’s lightweight title despite his technical flaws, you see no hint of Roberto Duran or Marvin Hagler.

But in today’s shallow pool of boxing headliners, when De La Hoya (17-0, 15 knockouts) and Ruelas (43-1, 34 KOs) meet in the center of the ring tonight, the drama will be real, for the rivalry between these champions is cutting-edge keen.

The winner probably will ascend into boxing’s rarefied air--and possibly take the place, and the money, of Julio Cesar Chavez as the sport’s Latino drawing card.

But with the buildup complete, forget about the future, for the time being, and focus on the bout and the fighters, who have left behind a trail of broken opponents.

Their paths crossed through the years while De La Hoya was growing up in East Los Angeles and zooming to premier amateur status as a teen-ager, and Ruelas was developing without fanfare in the San Fernando Valley.

They know each other so well, it seems that every moment of their careers--especially the several sparring sessions they had before De La Hoya went to Barcelona to win the 1992 Olympic gold medal that still defines his career--is a signal for what will happen tonight, clues to a puzzle laid out long ago.

If Ruelas, a notoriously slow starter, survives De La Hoya’s customary early-round fast pace, will De La Hoya rumble? Or crumble?

“I learned he’s not very strong up here,” Ruelas says, pointing to his heart and referring to their sparring sessions. “I learned that he doesn’t like pressure, which is what he’s going to get. He’s always gotten it from me, and he’ll get it again.

“Things came a lot easier for him. Maybe they came too quick, too sudden.”

Ruelas’ determination has never been an issue--especially since he got off the canvas twice in the first round, then stormed back to win the IBF title, on a unanimous decision, from Freddie Pendleton in February 1994.

But the De La Hoya camp has studied the tape of that fight, and has seen Ruelas’ tendency, in his pursuit of destruction, to leave himself open to power shots.

Pendleton, they say, just didn’t have the tenacity or the savvy to keep firing and hold Ruelas at bay.

“I don’t see it going the distance, not at all,” says De La Hoya, who holds the less-regarded World Boxing Organization’s slice of the lightweight title. “I’m too smart for him. Too smart.

“Even though he wants it to get into a brawl, I’m just too fast, I’m too strong. I’m going to keep on throwing until he just lays there. He’s gotten up before, but a human can only take so much, you know?”

For this fight, De La Hoya, who has been criticized for a mechanical, plodding style that has limited his athletic talent, worked on a more fluid style. His intent is to keep his head moving so Ruelas won’t have a stationary target for his concrete left hook.

“Rafael, he knows only one way to fight,” says De La Hoya’s trainer, Robert Alcazar. “Why? Because he doesn’t have the ability to make the adjustment. How is he going to dance like Muhammad Ali? There’s no way.”

De La Hoya suffered two first-round knockdowns of his own in a recent three-fight span. He was dropped by journeyman Narciso Valenzuela in October 1993, then again by the heavier-handed Giorgio Campanella two fights later, in July 1994.

De La Hoya knocked out both opponents quickly after hitting the canvas and argues that Ruelas’ faults--he lost on a bizarre second-round knockout to Mauro Gutierrez in July 1991--are more revealing indicators.

Ruelas’ trainer, Joe Goossen, acknowledges that his man is not technically perfect, but says his determination more than makes up the difference.

“He’s never been beaten up in a fight,” Goossen says of Ruelas, who was counted out against Gutierrez while resting on one knee because both he and Goossen lost track of the referee’s count. “He’s always found a way to prevail.

“If I were training a fighter (to go against Ruelas), I would be quite strained at how to develop a way to keep him off me. The only way to do it is to knock him out cold, and that hasn’t been done.”

In his last fight, De La Hoya wasted an early lead against former junior-lightweight champion John John Molina when he allowed the much shorter Molina to barrel straight into his chest, taking away the space De La Hoya needed to launch his heavy shots.

“I see Molina as better (than Ruelas) by at least 50%,” Alcazar says. “Ruelas, he has a big heart. And, of course, he’s got a good punch. But basically, he’s got no talent in this sport. He doesn’t even know how to walk into the ring.

“One of our game plans is to let him kill himself, let him find his own knockout.”

De La Hoya got a unanimous decision over Molina by overpowering him in the last three rounds, but did not impress Ruelas.

“He’s fast, but I’ve faced fighters that are fast,” Ruelas says. “He throws long-distance punches. He needs that distance, and he’s pretty accurate with those shots.

“I’ve faced top opponents before, and even though I might not be the greatest at bobbing and weaving, I keep my hands up close, tightly, and I counterpunch those shots.”

What’s the big deal about getting hit, anyway? Ruelas asks. If De La Hoya is so concerned about avoiding his shots, Ruelas reasons, he already has the mental edge.

“That shows me a little bit of weakness,” Ruelas says. “I don’t like to get hit, either, but I’m going to be there. I’m going to take my shots and take chances of getting hit in order to hit him as soon as I can, try to get him out, the sooner the better.

“I don’t see a way this won’t be an action fight. His style is like Hearns’ style, a counterpuncher, a hard puncher. And my style is go after it.”

Boxing Notes

Oscar De La Hoya will make at least $1.75 million, $1 million in purse money and a cut of the pay-per-view gross guaranteed to be no less than $750,000. Rafael Ruelas is guaranteed $1 million, $500,000 in purse and a PPV cut of no less than $500,000. Promoter Bob Arum’s high-end hopes for the PPV sales are a 2% buy-rate, which would mean about 500,000 homes--at $29.95 a pop, a $15-million gross. . . . De La Hoya weighed in at 134 1/2, Ruelas at the lightweight limit of 135. . . . Thunderstorms are possible for the outdoor bout. . . . Richard Steele will be the referee.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Tale of the Tape

DE LA HOYA:

Height: 5-11

Weight: 134 1/2

Neck: 15

Chest (Normal) 37

Chest (Exp.) 38 1/2

Reach: 73

Bicep: 13 1/2

Forearm: 11

Wrist: 7