Goossen Rings the Bell to Quit, but Ruelases Continue the Fight

Those who were hoping and praying that the fighting Ruelas brothers would return to retirement are not going to want to read this:

There will be no retirement. Not now. And not for the foreseeable future.

Yes, 29-year-old Gabriel Ruelas, a former World Boxing Council super-featherweight champion, went the distance Aug. 7 and beat Jose Rodriguez, a fighter who has four losses and two draws in his 17 fights, an opponent Gabriel would have quickly battered into submission in his prime.

And, yes, 28-year-old Rafael Ruelas, a former International Boxing Federation lightweight champion, struggled to eke out a decision last Sunday over Hicklet Lau, a fighter who has six losses and a draw in his 18 fights. Lau might not have been good enough to be a sparring partner for Rafael in the days when he was preparing to fight Oscar De La Hoya.

And, yes, the brothers were understandably rusty, having been inactive since last year, and trying to learn to operate without trainer Joe Goossen, the voice in their corners since they put on the gloves before either had celebrated his 13th birthday.

But there is a reason Goossen wasn’t in their corners last weekend. He, like many who wish the Ruelases well, does not approve of their double comeback.

“I felt like I would like to see them retire,� Goossen said. “They came to me instead and said they wanted to fight and I wished them the best.�

Gabriel is still hoping he and Goossen will be reunited.

“I would like to have Joe in my corner,� Gabriel said. “I am trying to work things out with him. He is the best trainer I have ever had or will ever have. What we have is deeper than just that, like a father-son relationship.

“But it is hard to ask him to be there when maybe he does not believe in me or he thinks I might get hurt. If anything ever happened to me in the ring, I wouldn’t want him to have to blame himself.�

When they met Goossen, the brothers were selling candy door to door. They knocked on the door of the Ten Goose gym in North Hollywood and wound up selling themselves to Goossen as potential fighters.

Both realized that potential, winning titles. But both appear to have lost some of the skills that took them to the top and it seems there is more to be won, in quality of life, outside the ring than in it.Rafael is taking business courses at UCLA. Gabriel envisions a career working with young fighters.

So why return to the ring?

“I won’t say I can’t live without boxing,� Rafael said. “But I don’t want to look back and wonder what would have happened if I had kept fighting. People ask me why am I fighting, now that I am going to school. I say, why not? I do what I’m supposed to do. I stay in shape and I do not drink or party.

“I am going to keep on fighting. I wasn’t discouraged by this performance [Sunday night]. I wasn’t very excited about it, either. But the main thing is, I think I did OK, considering I haven’t fought in nearly a year. It would have been nice to get a quick knockout, but, if I had, people would have said, ‘Oh, this guy is a tomato can. You shouldn’t have been in there with him.’ The guy was a good fighter. It’s difficult to please everybody.�

There might have been no question about Gabriel’s future in the ring had it not been for his fight against Jimmy Garcia in May 1995 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Gabe entered the ring as a champion, at the top of his game. He won again that day, but Garcia, 23, died from the effects of Gabriel’s blows.

It can be said that Gabriel can’t be held responsible, that he was just trying to knock out an opponent, that he was playing by the rules of a brutal sport, that Garcia, like all fighters, knew the risk, that it was up to Garcia’s corner, which included his father and brother, to stop the fight.

All those things are true and have been said to Gabriel over and over again since that night. And if he were a less caring person, he might have been able to look past Garcia.

But that hasn’t happened. Seven months after the Garcia fight, Gabriel fought Azumah Nelson. But when Gabriel looked across the ring, it wasn’t Nelson’s face he saw. It was Garcia’s.

Gabriel lost that fight and has never regained what he lost emotionally against Garcia. Gabriel has been visiting a therapist regularly since 1995 and he will continue to do so.

“Jimmy Garcia is part of my life now,� he said. “I will never really be over it. How could you be?�

A NEW FORUM FOR BOXING?

Forum Boxing, which has been going on since 1982, is expected to continue. But not necessarily at the Forum.

With the sale of the building by Jerry Buss to the owners of the new Staples Center, there is no reason for Buss to concentrate his boxing operation on the Inglewood arena. Instead, it may become even more of a traveling show than it already is.

“Jerry Buss may not have the loyalty to the building that he has had,� said Bob Steiner, Buss’ longtime public relations director. “But there is no shortage of venues. It is television that drives boxing.�

Forum Boxing regularly stages shows at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim and in Las Vegas.

Whatever happens, Steiner won’t be a part of it. At 64, after 21 years with Buss, he will be retiring this fall, but will stay on as a consultant for a year.

“Now that we are losing the comfort zone of the Forum and with California Sports [Buss’ umbrella organization] ceasing to exist, this seemed like as good a time as any to leave,� Steiner said.

A fixture at Laker games for two decades and a pro-active media relations man who was never hesitant to offer helpful criticism to sometimes less-than-receptive writers, Steiner will be missed.

QUICK JAB

Still without a suitable opponent, handlers for former two-time heavyweight champion Mike Tyson have moved his fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena from Oct. 2 to an indefinite October date.