Gabriel Ruelas vs Azumah Nelson II

Azumah Nelson regained the WBC world super featherweight championship by stopping Gabriel Ruelas at 1:20 of the fifth round at Fantasy Springs Casino, Indio, California, on Friday, December 1, 1995. Returning after approximately nineteen months out of the ring, the 37-year-old Ghanaian scored knockdowns in the first and fourth rounds. Ruelas recovered to continue on both occasions, but referee Marty Denkin stopped the contest in the fifth as the champion stood taking unanswered punches in a neutral corner. Both men weighed 130 pounds for the scheduled twelve-round contest. Nelson had also won their first meeting, taking a majority decision in Mexico City in February 1993.

The championship had changed hands twice since that earlier contest. Jesse James Leija took it from Nelson in May 1994, then lost it to Ruelas that September. Ruelas subsequently defeated Freddie Liberatore and Jimmy Garcia in his first two defences. The Garcia contest, on May 6, 1995, ended in the eleventh round, and Garcia later died from the injuries he sustained. Ruelas had not boxed since. He had considered whether to continue his career, and his return against Nelson therefore carried questions about his readiness as well as the sporting problem posed by an experienced former champion. Nelson, meanwhile, had not fought since losing to Leija.

Ruelas began by throwing punches with unusual haste, departing from the more patient approach associated with his previous work. Nelson punished him with a straight right in the opening round, sending him to the canvas. The champion rose and continued, recovering sufficiently to make the next two rounds competitive. Carol Castellano and Angel Luis Guzman awarded Ruelas both the second and third, while Daniel Van de Wiele gave him the third. The early knockdown had put Nelson ahead, but Ruelas had prevented the opening setback from immediately deciding the contest.

The fourth round brought the decisive change. Working from the ropes, Nelson caught Ruelas with a left hook to the body. The champion went down onto his knees and elbows, visibly affected by the blow, and had to beat another count. Nelson had now demonstrated that he could hurt Ruelas downstairs as well as to the head. Ruelas survived the round, but the second knockdown left him with a substantial deficit and reduced his prospects of recovering the initiative. After four completed rounds, Nelson led 39-35 on Van de Wiele’s card and 38-36 on the cards of Castellano and Guzman.

Nelson completed his work in the fifth. He forced Ruelas into a neutral corner and delivered a sustained succession of punches. Ruelas remained upright but was taking punishment without an effective answer, and Denkin stepped between them at 1:20. The champion’s corner protested, but the stoppage prevented further unanswered blows against a boxer who had already been down twice. Nelson had regained the title through accurate, damaging punching, with the body attack in the fourth providing the clearest turning point after Ruelas’ recovery in the intervening rounds.

Afterwards, Ruelas said his thoughts had remained with Garcia during the contest and that he had not felt mentally present. He subsequently also reported feeling physically unwell before entering the ring. Those statements explained his own assessment of the performance, rather than altering what had occurred between the ropes. Nelson had returned from a lengthy absence, scored two distinct knockdowns and finished decisively when the opportunity came. Ruelas had shown enough recovery to win rounds after the first fall, but could not withstand the renewed attack that followed the second.

I’ve always rated Nelson’s timing. Ruelas had beaten Leija, but that didn’t mean he’d solved Azumah. At 37, after nineteen months away, Nelson still knew when to make his punches count. The right hand dropped Gabriel in the first, but I rate that fourth-round body hook most, delivered off the ropes. Ruelas recovered early and won rounds. His return after Jimmy Garcia’s death was difficult, but Nelson’s accuracy decided this. Two knockdowns, then unanswered punches in the fifth, made the stoppage right. Experience and sound judgement made the difference.