Ruelas Is KO’d by Nelson, Specter : Boxing: Champion loses his WBC title to 37-year-old challenger after “seeing” boxer who died after his previous fight.

The man Gabriel Ruelas was fighting Friday night was Azumah Nelson.

But the man standing in front of him at the opening bell was Jimmy Garcia, the fighter who died from the punches thrown by Ruelas in his last fight nearly seven months ago.

“When the fight started, I saw Jimmy,” Ruelas said. “I saw the person I wasn’t fighting.”

With the image of Garcia hanging over him like a ghost, Ruelas never had a chance, losing his World Boxing Council super-featherweight title to Nelson at the Fantasy Springs Casino. Ruelas was knocked down twice before the fight was finally stopped by referee Marty Denkin 1:20 into the fifth round of the scheduled 12-rounder, with Ruelas taking a pounding in a neutral corner.

Ruelas has spent the last few months trying to rid himself of the trauma of having killed a man in the ring.

But he knew in the dressing room before he even came out that he failed in that mission.

So he came out swinging, throwing wild punches that were unlike any seen by longtime Ruelas watchers.

Ruelas later admitted that his preoccupation with Garcia was the reason he abandoned his normal patient style.

“I wanted to get out of there in two or three rounds,” he said.

There were questions before the fight about Nelson, a 37-year-old two-time former champion from Ghana. He had beaten Ruelas in 1993 on a majority decision in Mexico City, but Ruelas had since won the title and defended it twice.

At 25, Ruelas appeared to be in his prime. If only he could keep Garcia out of his thoughts.

Nelson put Ruelas down with a straight right in the first round that bloodied Ruelas’ nose. By the third round, Ruelas appeared to be regaining his style. But in the fourth, he went down again after taking several body shots.

Nelson unleashed a series of punches in the fifth, the most effective a left hand, before Denkin stepped in.

“I’m back again,” Nelson, 38-3-2 with 27 knockouts, said after the fight. “Tell everyone I’m back again.”

Ruelas (41-3) said he would like to fight again, but not before does some soul-searching.

“My mind was just somewhere else tonight,” he said. “My heart just wasn’t in it. I just didn’t feel right. But I know that if I do come back, I’d better not think about Jimmy.”

Ruelas’ brother, Rafael, knew right from the beginning that something was wrong with his brother.

“He did not fight the way he normally does,” Rafael said. “He was throwing bombs like he just wanted to get it over with. He was lunging. He was throwing wild shots. He just wasn’t there.”

In the semi-main event, Johnny Tapia retained his World Boxing Organization junior bantamweight title and improved his record to 33-0-2 with 19 knockouts by beating Willy Salazar (42-3-1) in a bout that was stopped after the ninth round.

In the first title fight of the night, Stevie Johnston defended his North American Boxing Federation lightweight title by stopping Jesus Rodriguez 2:24 into the 10th round. Johnston improved to 17-0 with 12 knockouts, Rodriguez dropped to 27-7.

John John Molina won the vacant International Boxing Council lightweight championship with a sixth-round knockout of Eduardo Perez. Molina (38-4, 27 knockouts) put Perez (15-9-2) down at the 1:19 mark of the sixth round.

The biggest roar of the night before the main event went to Eric “Butterbean” Esch, boxing’s newest novelty. The 300-pounder charged across the ring at the start of the first round of his scheduled four-rounder against 201-pound Louis “The Facelifter” Monaco and immediately put Monaco down. Monaco went down twice more, the knockout blow coming 1:57 into the round. It was a right hand that put Monaco through the ropes.