Ruelas’ Night Is Cut Short After Two

Rafael Ruelas got back to business by making short work of Mike Griffith on Saturday night at Fantasy Springs Casino.

Ruelas, 26, the former International Boxing Federation lightweight champion from Sylmar, entered the ring for the first time in six months. He exited after two rounds and a technical-knockout victory.

Ruelas (49-3 with 40 knockouts) has won six consecutive fights since losing his title to Oscar De La Hoya in May of 1995 and being upset by George Scott in a 12-round decision five months later.

It moved Ruelas closer to a possible matchup in the fall with Julio Cesar Chavez.

“The title is what I have my mind set on,” Ruelas said.

An accurate left hook in the second round opened a gash above Griffith’s right eye that resulted in the bout being stopped between rounds.

“I caught him with a left and after I connected with a couple of shots, he still tried to come at me,” Ruelas said. “He never really changed to a survival mode, really.

“I blocked most of his shots. But he did catch me with a quick one-two.”

Griffith (16-5), of Lorain , Ohio, connected with a hard combination to the head in the second round that momentarily slowed Ruelas.

Ruelas appeared to hold a slight edge until his blows left Griffith with his eye heavily swollen and a cut that required four stitches to close.

“Rafael looked tough against a tough guy,” trainer Joe Goossen said. “The guy wasn’t a lay-down. He overcame a lot of hard shots. He had a lot of heart.”

Said Griffith: “There was a flurry and I just got thumped. I just tried to make him back up and [I tried] not to back off. But when I got hit with the left I couldn’t see.”

Ruelas’ victory, on the undercard of William Guthrie’s third-round knockout of Darin Allen for the IBF light-heavyweight title, capped a successful evening for three fighters trained by Goossen at Ten Goose Boxing in Van Nuys.

Heavyweight Lance Whitaker of Granada Hills and junior-middleweight Carlos Martinez of Oxnard also recorded victories.

Whitaker (8-0) registered a first-round knockout of Ismail Raheem in a scheduled six-round bout.

Whitaker landed a left to the midsection that dropped Raheem early, then finished him off with another body assault that appeared to render Raheem breathless.

The fight was stopped after 2:14.

“A couple of body shots and a couple of uppercuts,” Whitaker said. “He threw some shots, but I blocked them. I did what I had to do.”

Whitaker, 26, who turned pro last July, has knocked out all of his opponents in a total of 11 incomplete rounds.

Raheem, of Cincinnati, dropped to 3-1-1.

“They freak when they see him,” Goossen said of Whitaker. “They try to tackle him.”

Martinez (4-0) won a four-round unanimous decision over Manuel Coronado of Mexico.

Coronado is 0-3-1.