GIVING KIDS A FIGHTING CHANCE FORMER CHAMP MENTORS BOXERS ON UPRIGHT LIVING.

Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer

VAN NUYS - Jesus ``The Tank'' Rodriguez sneers through his mouthpiece, wades into his opponent and fires off a lightning combination - pop-pop-pop - toward Alex Hernandez's head.

``Both hands, Alex, dos manos,'' yells their coach. ``Get out, get out, get out, Alex. Get out and box!''

Jesus is 11. Alex is 12. Their coach, actor and former world welterweight champion Carlos Palomino, is one of a growing number of volunteers who provide purpose through boxing for troubled youths from gang turf.

Their gym, the Los Angeles Police Department's Jeopardy Program in Van Nuys, is their potential salvation.

``I used to get in fights a lot in school, get suspended, get in trouble by saying stuff to people, to girls, tell 'em off,'' said Jesus, a title-winning competitor who dropped from 120 pounds to a solid 89 through a year of Jeopardy training. ``But it's all changed now.

``Here, they talk to me. They tell me to be a good boxer - you have to listen to your parents and be good in school. I want to go to college, just like Carlos.''

Just like Carlos, boys said again and again. Champion of the world.

``My father told me, 'You've gotta give back to the community, you've gotta have time for the people,' '' said Palomino, 52, of Sherman Oaks, one of three coaches to devote every afternoon to the ``at-risk'' youths of Van Nuys.

``I come from that environment and that's why I come here - because I wanted to do something better for myself.''

The gym is alive with the patter of gloves. Pubescent testosterone. Endorphins with mitts. Two rooms with two dozen kids, each flailing at some type of bag - or each other. Heavy bags. Speed bags. Double-end bags. Bags beaten to a pulp by a decade of young gladiators imagining a right to the ribs, a left to the solar plexus, an uppercut to someone's chin.

A knockout.

And inside the ring, visible from the street, would-be champions spar to win.

Kids like Elias ``Ace'' Ventura, 14. Or Tural ``Scorpion'' Suleymanov, 17. Or Cesar ``Tweetie'' Menjivar, 9. Or Jamell Dixon, 19, self-proclaimed ``Speed Bag King.''

Or Gerardo Ventura, 17, of Sherman Oaks, a would-be soldier with a barrel chest who never stops shuffling, never ceases flailing at some imaginary foe.

Then there's Paolo Garzona, 13, of Van Nuys. To him Jeopardy means confidence, focus. College? Don't think so, he says. He wants to go pro, like Carlos.

``Rapido, rapido, rapido!'' cries out Tony Villasenor, a Jeopardy Program dad who coaches kids every day after a lunch-truck shift that begins at 4 a.m.

``Boom, boom, boom,'' hisses a fighter each time he connects with his sparring mate.

More than 1,200 amateur boxers compete in Southern California, according to U.S.A. Boxing, the nation's regulator of amateur competition, many of them from at-risk programs such as Jeopardy.

``The Valley could use about 20 of those gyms,'' said ``Blinky'' Rodriguez, a former boxer, gym owner and executive director of Communities in Schools, which runs boxing and other programs to deter gang membership.

``And when you have the heart and moxie of a guy like Carlos Palomino, then you got guidance, then you got knowledge of the overall game. The boxing game is a positive vehicle, especially for modern-day kids, because they respect fighters.

``It's a hook,'' he said. ``Not everybody's going to turn into a stockbroker.''

Jeopardy, founded more than a decade ago, recruits boys - and recently girls - from 18 Los Angeles police divisions, including the San Fernando Valley communities of Van Nuys, North Hollywood, Reseda, San Fernando and Northridge.

Between 3:30 and 6 p.m., boys trickle in and suit up. Tutors stand by to help - and insist - on school homework. Throughout the year, police also take them to movies, plays, parties and to the beach. Recent cooperation with Los Angeles schools provides mentoring for girls.

In Van Nuys, 75 students are enrolled, about 30 of them regulars in boxing. Some had gang ties. Some had ditched, or failed, school. Some got in trouble for fighting or mouthing off to parents and teachers. Some did nothing other than want to box.

``I think it's working,'' said LAPD Officer John Franco, who runs the Van Nuys program with Officer Laverne Brown. ``The main focus of Jeopardy is to keep these kids out of gangs.

``Boxing is one of the best things we have going.''

Enter Palomino, a native of Mexico raised among 11 children in Santa Ana and Westminster. Besides being one of the top professional fighters ever to spring from Los Angeles - 31-5-3, with 19 knockouts and seven champion title defenses between 1976 and 1979 - he was also sharp. A college grad.

A handsome actor who just finished a movie role as an FBI agent chasing a serial killer in ``America's Crime,'' Palomino also knows about comebacks.

At 48, the Boxing Hall of Famer came out of retirement to win four knockouts before his final loss to Wilfredo Rivera in 1998.

When Palomino joined Jeopardy more than a year ago, there were two active boxers. Two weeks later, there were 25.

``When I was his age,'' he pointed to Jesus, ``you could call me at-risk, too. I was from Mexico, I couldn't speak English. I got into a lot of fights. I got kicked out of school several times. ... If I can touch one or two of these kids, it's worth it.

What builds character is discipline, Palomino and other boxing proponents say. Following rules.

``What's the rule?,'' he warns his troupe. ``Hey, boxers don't sit down.'' They also must run one to two miles each morning, arrive at the gym on time, work out three hours every afternoon, keep their grades up, stay out of trouble and be good sports.

``C'mon ... let's go,'' said Jeopardy head coach Byron Martinez to his boys. ``This is a boxing school, not a playground. Ten seconds, five seconds, OK.

``You guys work hard, you can go somewhere.''

CAPTION(S):

8 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Former WBC welterweight champion Carlos Palomino, right, guides young boxers at the Jeopardy Program gym in Van Nuys.

(2 -- color) One of dozens of ``at-risk'' youths in the Van Nuys area gets guidance in staying on the straight path to adulthood through an LAPD-sponsored boxing program.

(3 -- 4 -- color) Pugilistic mentor Carlos Palomino tapes Paolo Garzona's hands before the 13-year-old budding boxer begins his workout at the Jeopardy Program gym. The program gives youths discipline and direction.

(5 -- color) Beginning boxer Cesar Menjivar, 9, works out with the speed bag at the Jeopardy Program gym, where youngsters receive guidance in athletic and academic pursuits.

(6 -- color) At opposite ends of their Jeopardy careers but working side by side, 9-year-old Cesar Menjivar and 19-year-old Jamell ``Speed Bag King'' Dixon punch the heavy bags, building muscles and discipline.

(7 -- color) Former welterweight champion and actor Carlos Palomino, right, watches a pair of Valley youths spar in the boxing ring at the Jeopardy Program gym in Van Nuys.

(8 -- color -- ran in Bulldog edition only) Cesar Menjivar, 9, gets some training on the speed bag with help from a booster box and former welterweight champion and actor Carlos Palomino of Sherman Oaks, who mentors youngsters at a Van Nuys gym.