Nelson Gets Ruelas’ Full Attention Tonight

The eyes of the boxing world will be on Gabriel Ruelas tonight when he steps into the ring at the Fantasy Springs Casino outside this desert city.

Everyone will be watching to see if Ruelas can shake off the trauma of his last fight, which resulted in the death of 23-year-old Jimmy Garcia, and pick up the reins of a promising career.

Ruelas insists that he won’t be focused on Garcia, but rather on Azumah Nelson, the man against whom Ruelas will defend his World Boxing Council super-featherweight title in tonight’s 12-round main event.

Remember Nelson? He seems to have gotten lost in the swirl of publicity surrounding Ruelas’ first ring appearance since that fateful day in Las Vegas when Garcia collapsed in the ring.

But nobody in the Ruelas camp has forgotten Nelson. Least of all Gabriel.

“He’s a champion,” Ruelas said of Nelson. “He’s a legend.”

Few would argue that. Nelson, 37-3-2 with 26 knockouts, has won two world titles, the WBC featherweight and super-featherweight crowns, in a career that began in 1979 in his native Ghana. And that was after Nelson had amassed a 50-2 amateur mark and won three gold medals in international competition.

Among Nelson’s 37 professional victories is one over Ruelas, a majority decision in 1993 in Mexico City before a crowd of about 132,000.

To Ruelas, that fight for Nelson’s super-featherweight title was a turning point. He admits he went into the ring wondering if he belonged in there with a fighter as experienced as Nelson.

As the rounds passed, however, Ruelas’ confidence grew.

“I realized that fighting him was not as hard as I thought,” Ruelas said. “But even as it was happening, I could feel time going by and the title slipping out of my hands.”

That loss is one of only two blemishes on Ruelas’ record. He is 41-2 with 23 knockouts.

He won the WBC title last year by beating James Leija on a decision, and has defended it twice, against Fred Liberatore and Garcia. Now he and Nelson meet again, with Ruelas, 25, seemingly in his prime and Nelson, 37, probably somewhat beyond his.

When asked how much he has left, Nelson asked if the reporter would be at tonight’s fight.

When the reporter said he would be, Nelson said, “After the fight, you come tell me how many more years you think I can go.”

Ruelas and Nelson each weighed in at 130 pounds.

Also on tonight’s card will be World Boxing Organization junior-bantamweight champion Johnny Tapia (32-0-2, 18 knockouts) defending his title against Willy Salazar (42-21-1, 29 knockouts).

Tapia has attracted the attention of five-time world champion Sugar Ray Leonard, who will be in Tapia’s corner tonight as co-manager.

Others fighting on the nine-bout card: North American Boxing Federation lightweight champ Stevie Johnston (16-0, 11 knockouts) in a title match against Jesus Rodriguez (27-6, 16 knockouts); John John Molina (37-4, 26 knockouts) and Eduardo Perez (15-8-2, 13 knockouts) going 12 rounds for the vacant International Boxing Council lightweight championship, and the weight-watchers’ special, Eric (Butterbean) Esch (13-0, eight knockouts) fighting Louis (the Facelifter) Monaco in a four-round heavyweight match. Esch weighed 301, 99 pounds more than his opponent.

The bell for the first fight will ring at 5, with the pay-per-view telecast to begin at 6.