Gabriel Ruelas

Gabriel Ruelas
Data
Birth Name	Gabriel Ruelas
Weight class	Super featherweight
nationality	Mexican
birthday	July 23, 1970
place of birth	La Yerbabuena
style	Left delivery
size	1.70 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	56
Victories	49
Knockout victories	24
Defeats	7th

Gabriel Ruelas (born July 23, 1970 in La Yerbabuena , Jalisco ) is a former Mexican professional boxer and WBC world champion in super featherweight . He is the older brother of boxing world champion Rafael Ruelas .

Boxing career

He came to the United States with his family at the age of seven and joined the Ten Goose Boxing Gym in California at the age of twelve . As an amateur boxer, he won 55 of 58 fights, became California State Golden Gloves Champion, and came third at the 1987 National Golden Gloves .

In September 1988 he made his professional debut at the Caesars Palace in Las Vegas and won by knockout in the first round. He was also able to win his next 20 fights. In April 1990 he was defeated by an elbow injury to Jeff Franklin, but won his next two fights and was allowed to box for the NABF North American Super Featherweight Championship ; he won this fight on July 31, 1991 by unanimous victory over the Texan Aaron Lopez.

With nine more victories, he finally got a WBC world championship chance in super featherweight against Azumah Nelson , but lost to this just on points. With five knockout victories in a row, he was again the WBC World Cup challenger to the new title holder Jesse Leija and defeated him unanimously on points in Las Vegas. He also had his undefeated opponent on the ground twice.

On January 28, 1995 he defended the title through tKo after the second round against the New York "Pitbull" Freddie Liberatore. In his second title defense on May 6, 1995, he won through tKo in the eleventh round against the Colombian Jimmy Garcia. He suffered severe head injuries and died in hospital just under two weeks later. This event also changed Ruela's life. He visited Garcia and his family several times, donated much of his savings, and didn't get back into the ring until seven months later. Obviously not in good shape, he lost to Azumah Nelson in the fifth round by tKo after he had already gone down in the first and fourth round.

After three consecutive victories he got another World Cup chance, this time for the IBF super featherweight title, but lost to Arturo Gatti again by tKo in the fifth round. The Ring Magazine chose the duel for fight of the year and the precipitation of Ruelas for Knockout of the Year .

After eight more fights, including five wins and three losses, he ended his career in March 2003. In 2006 he was inducted into the California Boxing Hall of Fame .

predecessor	Office	successor
Jesse Leija	Super featherweight boxing champion ( WBC ) September 17, 1994 - December 1, 1995	Azumah Nelson

Web links

• BoxRec profile