'SUPERMAN' SAVES KIDS - IN THE RING COACH, MENTOR TAKES ON GANGS THROUGH BOXING.

Byline: Judy O'Rourke Staff Writer

NEWHALL - The pretty 14-year-old girl with long black hair bounced and quick-stepped, throwing combinations, upper cuts and hooks - boom! - all the while glaring with the inner resolve of the gladiator she was.

The young boxer's mind shadowed her instincts as adrenalin hypercharged her moves. Joanna Pereda's opponent was not meant to prevail.

``At first if she beats me, in my mind it's saying I should have tried harder, I could do better,'' Pereda said. ``After that I throw everything I have. I sometimes win.''

With six fights under her belt, the eighth-grader has netted a trophy as state champion in the Junior Olympic Games and won two belts at the Desert Showdown Invitational Amateur competition.

For the past five years, Pereda has attended the boxing program at the Santa Clarita Community Center in Newhall. Five days a week after school she laces up her boxing shoes.

Her coach, Juan ``Superman'' Jimenez, a volunteer at the center, praises the gifted athlete, and says he will encourage her and train her for as long as he can. Pereda used to play soccer and basketball and race BMX bikes, but now she dedicates herself to boxing, hoping to one day turn pro.

Jimenez, 37, whose lean muscular frame is crowned by a spiky salt-and-pepper flat top, ran away from home in Mexico when he was 11. He was adopted and raised by grandparents in East Los Angeles when he was 12. He is determined to offer kids a viable alternative to gang life.

``Every kid in East L.A. is a candidate to be part of a gang,'' he said. ``Either you're in or you'll get punked around off and on. I know a lot of kids who never made it to 15, 16. That's the reason I push them so hard. I don't want them to end up in the wrong place.''

Jimenez's discovery of boxing at age 14 was his ``Aha!'' moment.

``It taught me how to set goals for myself,'' Jimenez said. ``I learned how to look at people, not at what they look like, but what they look like with their heart. There's action when you speak from your heart. It has no limit.''

While Santa Clarita is a far cry from the barrio, it is hardly gang-proofed.

On his first visit to the center, Jimenez noticed girls checking out the boxing area. The girls he trained in East Los Angeles lacked commitment, but he was willing to take another chance. He suggested setting out a sign-in sheet. Of the 30 girls who signed up, 15 stuck with it.

``If they say they're going to do something, no matter how, they're going to do it,'' Jimenez said. ``Another girl is not going to make her look bad in the ring. Girls will go to the last drop of blood before they give up.''

Lupe Gonzalez, Pereda's mother, gives the boxing program an A+.

``It's keeping my daughter out of gangs and using drugs,'' she said. ``Any time I have a problem with any of my daughters I go to him and ask him for advice. Every time he gives me advice, it works.''

Hope Horner, the center's supervisor, said Jimenez is more than a coach, he is also a mentor for many kids.

``He's going to their schools, he's meeting with their parents, he really takes it the extra mile, that's how he builds up the trust and rapport with these young people,'' she said. ``He's not just building them as boxers, he's building them as people. He's teaching them the discipline they need, not only in the ring but in other areas of their life.''

Jimenez rents a room at the home of two of his trainees, Jazmin and Leonardo Vasquez. Horner said Leo, 13, is surrounded by gangs, and the program is his excuse to get away from them.

``He helped me when I got in trouble,'' said the Sierra Vista Junior High eighth-grader. ``Boxing keeps me out of hanging out with friends in gangs. It keeps me busy.''

Jazmin, 15, a 10th-grader at Canyon High School, appreciates Jimenez's patience.

``He won't give up on us,'' she said. ``I'm confident. I used to be shy. I'm not shy anymore, I'm out there.'' The siblings train five days a week, but at home they do not talk shop with Jimenez. They relax, discuss how school is going and watch TV or movies.

The Vasquez kids' awards are displayed prominently in the family's living room. Jazmin has twice won championship belts at the Desert Showdown, she was a state champion at the Junior Olympics and she was a Silver Glove city and state champion. Leonardo boasts one championship belt.

It is fitting Jimenez earned the Superman moniker with his fists when he was 14.

``There was a kid in East L.A., 'Bola,'(which means) bullet,'' he said. ``I fought him outside the Boys & Girls Club.'' Jimenez won.

``When I finished with him, the kids said, 'That's Superman. He stopped the bullet.'''

Superman and the bullet have since become friends.

Judy O'Rourke, [phone]

judy.orourke(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Volunteer boxing coach Juan ``Superman'' Jimenez, right, works with Joanna Pereda, a 14-year-old state champion, at the Santa Clarita Community Center in Newhall.

(2 -- color) Coach Juan ``Superman'' Jimenez believes boxing saved him from gang life in East L.A. - and that it can help others, too.

(3 -- 4) Coach Juan Jimenez sees boxing as a way out of gang life for youths and is hands on about his message - whether taping up Jazmin Vasquez, 15, above, or taking hits from Gilbert Amaro.

David Crane/Staff Photographer