Rafael Ruelas Defeats Rivera, Improves to 35-1

Rafael Ruelas of Arleta, the World Boxing Council’s top-ranked lightweight, scored a technical knockout against Robert Rivera of Phoenix during the third round of their bout at the Reseda Country Club on Tuesday night.

The bout was the first for Ruelas (35-1, 28 knockouts) since he won the North American Boxing Federation title with an 11th-round knockout of Jorge Paez in November at the Forum. He had an easier time against Rivera (18-2-1), and the fight was stopped at 2:23 of the third round.

In an earlier bout, heavyweight Lionel Butler (15-10-1) of Van Nuys scored his ninth consecutive knockout victory by stopping Tony Willis (21-6) of Los Angeles at 2:15 of the fifth round.

Also, Wayne McCullough of Belfast, Ireland’s 1992 Olympic silver medalist in the bantamweight division, made his pro debut by stopping Alfonso Zamora (1-2) of Los Angeles 39 seconds into the fourth round.