RUIZ RIFE WITH FIGHTING SPIRIT FEATHERWEIGHT HAS CONFIDENCE, HUMILITY.

Byline: Nick Piecoro Staff Writer

Juan Ruiz Jr. has goals just like any other professional boxer. He wants to be the best, period. Nobody better. It's the only way fighters can think.

But Ruiz also has a humble, self-effacing side that is all too often missing from boxers. He knows where he wants to be and he also knows he's not there yet.

The 22-year-old Santa Clarita featherweight has been a pro for less than two years, and with last week's third-round TKO of Oscar Villa, he's 6-0 with three knockouts. The fighter in him says it should be six knockouts. The humility says he's got a long way to go. You can understand from where that mix of confidence and modesty comes if you look at what Ruiz has done in his life and what he continues doing.

This is someone who came within one fight of the Olympic Trials in 1999 before losing. Someone who used to ride the bus to and from work in Santa Clarita. Someone who has a day job - his most recent coming from a temp agency that has him lugging items around a warehouse. Boxing does not yet pay the bills.

And perhaps most important, Ruiz is someone who latched on to boxing at the Santa Clarita Community Center and has not let go. In this tight-knit neighborhood in which about 40 kids participate in the center's boxing program on weekday afternoons, Ruiz can be found sparring and training for his next fight, scheduled for Aug. 23 in Las Vegas.

The hand-painted sign that hangs near the boxing ring congratulating Ruiz for his latest victory is one of the few hanging in the center that is written in English only. Spanish and English are interchanged there with the fluidity of Ruiz's jabs and left hooks.

Carlos Campos, one of Ruiz's trainers, believes Ruiz's Mexican-American heritage is one of the reasons Ruiz was drawn to the sport at age 16 as a ``chubby little kid'' from Hart High. Ruiz had no idea that the community center on San Fernando Road and Lyons Avenue had a boxing ring - which the city payed for in 1994 - until a friend informed him of it. ``Since that day, I've been down here 24/7,'' Ruiz said.

``It's a kind of sport where it's traditionally a part of Mexican-American culture,'' Campos said. ``In Mexico and here, they follow it religiously. It's a sport where the common people can reach a professional level, where in any other sport it would be extremely hard to do.''

Ruiz isn't sure if that's why he couldn't stop going to the center as a teen. Although his competitive nature is one reason, he also points to the fact his father would always watch fights on television when he was younger. ``I guess that's why I like it, too,'' Ruiz said.

Whatever the reason, Ruiz runs for a half hour early every morning and trains for about two hours in the afternoon at the center, and when he does, others seem to gravitate to him.

``We can say he's the pride of our gym,'' said Art ``Chico'' Magana, another of Ruiz's trainers. ``When he started down here, he didn't know nothing. Now, he's a professional boxer.''

He is the first boxer to turn pro out of the Santa Clarita center, and as other young boxers work their way up - three teens, Michael Ortiz, 15; Alfredo Coronado, 13, and Jonathan Ortiz, 13, all fought in a Golden Gloves national tournament last week in Las Vegas - Ruiz, who is baby-faced and weighs about 125 pounds, can't help but feel the extra pressure that comes with everyone's expectations.

``That's a little bit of pressure for me because every time I go out there, I've got to perform,'' Ruiz said.

So far, he has. After falling one fight short of winning the Olympic Western Trials in 1999, he found San Fernando Valley-based promoter Terry Washington, decided to turn pro and has not suffered a setback since.

What makes Ruiz successful is a relentless attack on opponents' bodies, his trainers say. They also describe him as more of a boxer than a brawler.

``What makes him different from other fighters is he's got good hand speed and he has an ability to see punches before they land,'' Campos said. ``So defensively, he's very elusive and very quick.''

Ruiz understands the danger of the sport and can't help but love it. Although other fighters seem to get unnerved in the ring, he says he feels right at home.

``A lot of people say they get nervous or get tight,'' Ruiz said. ``I'm the opposite. I'm nice and loose, like if I was born for it.''

``It's weird to say, but every time I go in the ring, it's like that's where I'm supposed to be. It's weird,'' he added confidently - and with a touch of humility.

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Juan Ruiz Jr., a 22-year-old Santa Clarita featherweight, has a 6-0 record, with three knockouts.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News