Garcia Critical After Loss to Gabriel Ruelas : Other fights: Colombian undergoes brain surgery. Tapia keeps title with draw.

Jimmy Garcia of Colombia was in critical condition Saturday night and undergoing brain surgery to remove a potentially life-threatening blood clot after enduring almost 11 rounds of pounding from World Boxing Council super-flyweight champion Gabriel Ruelas.

Neurosurgeon Al Campana, who accompanied Garcia in the ambulance from Caesars Palace to University Medical Center, performed a CAT-scan that discovered the condition, called a subdural hematoma, ringside physician Flip Homansky said.

“It’s preliminary, I’m obviously not there,” Homansky said. “His condition deteriorated on the way. He’s critical.”

After receiving 10 rounds of savage punishment from Ruelas, Garcia lost consciousness after the fight was stopped in the 11th by referee Mitch Halpern.

Garcia absorbed numerous shots to the head throughout the bout but was alert when Halpern called an it to an end. Garcia moved back to his corner, then suddenly slumped to the floor.

Cornerman Miguel Diaz said Garcia was awake at first, but seemed to lose consciousness a few minutes before he was taken out of the stadium by paramedics on a stretcher.

“He wasn’t responding to my commands,” Diaz said of Garcia’s daze. “I said, ‘Open your eyes, open your eyes,’ and nothing.

“The last couple of minutes he didn’t open his eyes.”

Said Gabriel Ruelas of Garcia’s collapse: “I felt bad when I saw him quiver.”

Ruelas improved his record to 41-2 with 23 knockouts. Garcia is 35-5.

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Johnny Tapia kept his World Boxing Organization junior-bantamweight title when his undercard bout with Ricardo Vargas was ruled a majority-decision draw after an unintentional head butt.

The butt occurred in the seventh round of the bout, when the top of Tapia’s head clashed with Vargas’ forehead, opening a visible gash above Vargas’ left eye. After the fighters finished the seventh and opened the eighth, Homansky ruled that Vargas could not continue, and, by rule, the fight went to the judges’ scorecards.

Two judges, Clark Sanmartino and Bill Graham had it a draw, and Dalby Shirley had it for Tapia, 68-64, making the fight a majority draw.

“I want a rematch,” Tapia said, “but he’s one heck of a dirty fighter.”

In another fight on the card, middleweight Dana Rosenblatt stopped previously unbeaten Chad Parker with a big right hand at 1:28 of the first round.