Jesse James Leija vs Gabriel Ruelas

Jesse James Leija’s brief reign as World Boxing Council junior-lightweight champion ended when Gabriel Ruelas defeated him by unanimous decision over 12 rounds at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Ruelas, the younger, taller and physically stronger man, knocked Leija down in the second and final rounds and controlled most of the intervening action. The judges returned scores of 116–108, 115–109 and 115–111, all for the challenger.

The contest formed part of the large championship programme headed by the return match between Julio Cesar Chavez and Meldrick Taylor. A sell-out crowd of 15,200 attended. Leija, unbeaten in 30 contests, was making his first defence of the title he had taken from Azumah Nelson four months earlier. He had first held Nelson to a disputed draw in San Antonio and then defeated the experienced Ghanaian convincingly in their return. Ruelas had also challenged Nelson, losing a majority decision in 1993 after making much of the early running. He entered his second championship attempt with a record of 38 wins and two defeats.

Leija was considered the more polished counter-puncher, but Ruelas immediately refused to accommodate him. Instead of following the champion at a measured pace and allowing him time to set his counters, Ruelas charged forward, moved his head beneath Leija’s straight punches and attacked with sweeping hooks and uppercuts. Leija caught him with a firm right hand in the opening round, but Ruelas accepted it without hesitation and continued advancing. The challenger’s greater size and strength were already apparent whenever they came together at close quarters.

Ruelas made the first decisive break at two minutes 30 seconds of the second round. He drove a heavy right uppercut through the middle of Leija’s guard and sent the champion falling backwards to the canvas. Leija rose, but injured an ankle as he went down and thereafter found it difficult to move freely or close the distance in his usual fashion. Ruelas maintained the pressure, forcing Leija backwards and striking from unusual angles as the champion tried to steady himself.

By the end of the third round, Leija’s face was swollen and cut. Ruelas continued to duck beneath his better punches and then came up throwing both hands. Leija attempted to time the challenger’s wide attacks, but the opportunities were fewer than expected because Ruelas did not remain stationary after punching. He moved in, unloaded and altered his position before Leija could answer. The champion was being made to fight at Ruelas’s pace and was unable to establish the measured counter-punching which had proved so effective against Nelson.

The same pattern continued through the fourth and for most of the fifth. Ruelas threw the greater number of punches and landed the heavier blows, particularly with the right uppercut and hooks around the guard. His attacks made Leija flinch and hesitate before throwing his counters. Late in the fifth, however, Leija produced his best moment. As Ruelas ducked low during an exchange, the champion caught him with a short right to the side of the head and sent him to the floor. The knockdown came with approximately 20 seconds remaining and gave Leija some encouragement, but Ruelas recovered before the bell and showed no lasting ill effects.

Leija fought with determination during the middle rounds and had occasional success when he found room for the right hand, but he could not sustain an attack. The ankle injury reduced his mobility, while Ruelas’s strength prevented him from holding his ground inside. Whenever Leija appeared ready to settle, the challenger crowded him with combinations to the head and body. Ruelas’s punches were not always delivered with textbook precision, but their volume and force kept Leija occupied and prevented him from controlling the exchanges.

There was untidy work at close quarters as the bout progressed. Leija complained repeatedly about punches near or below the belt, and referee Joe Cortez eventually deducted a point from Ruelas for a low blow in the tenth round. The penalty offered the champion a possible route back into the scoring, but he couldn't take advantage. Ruelas continued to force the action, while Leija’s replies became increasingly isolated. The challenger had learned from his earlier defeat by Nelson, when he had allowed a promising start to fade, and this time he showed no inclination to protect an apparent lead.

Ruelas remained the stronger fighter in the championship rounds. Leija was still trying to counter and showed no shortage of courage, but his injured ankle and damaged face testified to the difficult evening he had endured. In the twelfth, Ruelas finished as forcefully as he had begun. Another right hand, variously described at ringside as a straight punch or an uppercut, drove Leija backwards and put him down for the second time. The champion rose and completed the contest, but the final knockdown removed any remaining uncertainty about the decision.

Chuck Giampa scored the fight 115–109, Carol Castellano 115–111 and Anek Hongtongkam 116–108. The wider totals reflected Ruelas’s two knockdowns, offset in part by his own visit to the canvas and the point deducted for the low blow. Ruelas improved his record to 39–2 and became WBC junior-lightweight champion, joining his brother Rafael, then the IBF lightweight champion, as the sport’s only reigning pair of brother world champions. Leija suffered his first professional defeat and surrendered the title after only four months. His skill had carried him past Nelson, but against Ruelas he was overcome by a younger challenger who imposed greater strength, a faster pace and sustained aggression from the opening bell to the last.

Leija had earned respect by holding Azumah Nelson to a draw and then beating him convincingly in the rematch. He was clever, disciplined and knew how to punish mistakes. But Ruelas was a completely different physical problem. He was younger, naturally bigger at the weight and refused to give Leija the measured contest he wanted.

The key was Ruelas’s pressure. It wasn’t always pretty, but he moved his head coming in, crowded Leija’s counters and made him work at an uncomfortable pace. That right uppercut in the second dropped Leija heavily and damaged his ankle as he fell. From then on, Leija couldn’t move properly or create the space needed for his sharp right-hand counters. His face was already swollen and cut by the third.

Leija showed his quality by dropping Ruelas with a short right late in the fifth, but it was an isolated success. Ruelas got straight back to bullying him, throwing more punches and winning the physical exchanges. Even after losing a point for a low blow, he remained comfortably ahead and put Leija down again in the last round.

Nothing about the decision was controversial. Ruelas won because he imposed himself from the opening bell and never allowed Leija to settle. Leija had out-thought an ageing Nelson, but Ruelas was too young, too strong and too relentless. Sometimes good technique gets beaten when a fighter cannot secure the time or distance required to use it.