By Larry Tornambe

Phoenix, AZ - krikya360.com witnessed hometown favorite Joey Ruelas pumping up the crowd at the “Iron Boy Meet the Fighters” day in Phoenix.  He is fully aware he’s a favorite here and the reason is that he brings the excitement each time he gets in the ring. 

Joey tells BoxingScene he is ready for anything on Saturday at Phoenix’s Celebrity Theater on a card promoted by Iron Boy Promotions along with Top Rank.   Ruelas faces undefeated Izaac Cardona.  “If he wants to come out boxing, we’ll box.  If he comes out slugging we’ll slug.”  Cardona is 8-0 all wins by knockout. If Cardona does not set the early pace then Ruelas will set a slow pace, “study my fighter in the 1st round and then I pick it up.”

“Whatever you throw at me I can take and give it back” Joey says, “but we got to beat him to his punch and create angles.”   There you have the basis for the thrill of a Ruelas fight.  It boils down to letting his foe make the first move and then we learn if Joey can trump it.   He is 8-3-1 with 3 stoppage wins.  None of them have been pillow fights and we expect Saturday’s bout to feature thumping punches throughout the 8-rounder, or however long it goes.

Joey is not just a tough guy off the street who can take it and give it back, over the course of “about 150 amateur bouts I was ranked #1 in 1998 and won the Junior Olympics and went to the Olympic Trials in 2000. I lost.”  He went pro and it’s his full time job.  “I run about 5 miles every morning.  I have four kids now they’re on summer break so I spend time with them. We raise pit bulls, we have five now.” 

He hones his craft at Pro Edge on 19th Street. Joey says he has “lots of family, friends and fan support here," proving part of his appeal is to bring the thrill to the crowd, but he does it with every expectation to come prepared and go for the win.  Ruelas was solid and nearly on fighting weight two weeks ago.  He is promising to be sharp, as he will need to be against a 100% KO winning foe.  Phoenix will certainly be behind him.

See Ironboypromotions.com for more ticket information and the full fight card lineup.