No Ghost This Time For Ruelas

Shaking off the lingering effects of having thrown the fatal blows that killed Jimmy Garcia last spring, Gabriel Ruelas won a unanimous 10-round decision over Julio Cesar Herrera at the Olympic Auditorium on Wednesday night before about 3,000.

It was a very different Ruelas from the one who lost the World Boxing Council super-featherweight title to Azumah Nelson in December in five rounds. On that night, Ruelas said he saw the ghost of Garcia in the ring.

When Wednesday’s fight was over, Ruelas looked up at the ceiling and thanked Garcia for not making a return appearance.

“He was not there,” Ruelas said. “He has no business in the ring. He didn’t bother me like I thought he would this time.”

While Ruelas said he doesn’t expect Garcia to haunt him again, he said he’ll always think of the Colombian boxer after each fight.

While the weight of Garcia was gone from his shoulders, Ruelas had a different sort of weight to worry about Wednesday.

He weighed in at 143 1/2 pounds, 13 1/2 pounds heavier than his normal fighting weight.

That, plus the fact that Ruelas hadn’t fought since the Nelson bout when he was troubled by both Garcia and a flu bug, left Ruelas looking sluggish and rusty.

He knocked Herrera down in the second round, but couldn’t put him away.

Still, Ruelas had enough to earn the victory, improving to 42-3 with 23 knockouts. Herrera, who weighed 137, is 21-3 with 19 knockouts.

In the 10-round semi-main event, Kenny Keene won a unanimous decision over former Olympic gold medalist Andrew Maynard in a 10-round cruiserweight match.

Maynard, who hadn’t fought in nearly two years, dropped to 24-7 with 20 knockouts. He was the victim of a head butt in the ninth round that streamed blood down his face for the remainder of the fight.

Keene improved to 33-1 with 21 knockouts.

Comedian Jay Leno worked Eric “Butterbean” Esch’s corner in a four-round prelim, and Butterbean pounded out a first-round knockout of Billy McDonald at the 1:43 mark.

Esch improved to 18-1 with 13 knockouts. McDonald is 3-3 with all three victories coming on knockouts.

In another preliminary fight, cruiserweight Roar Petajamma remained undefeated at 11-0 with seven knockouts by winning a unanimous decision in a six-round match against Angel Arreola (3-5-2, two knockouts).