At youth boxing class, Kashkari jabs Brown on education

Republican gubernatorial hopeful Neel Kashkari took a break from throwing political jabs to throw some real jabs at a Sacramento boxing gym Wednesday afternoon.

Clad in a gray Ultimate Fighting Championship T-shirt, the former U.S. Treasury official worked up a considerable sweat running drills with an instructor at Sacramento’s UFC Gym and the young students training there -- most of whom were well under voting age.

Kashkari said the workout was a fitting campaign stop because he’s “focused on education. I’m focused on fighting on behalf of the kids of California -- the kids that Jerry Brown has turned his back on.”

Education has been a major theme of the Republican’s campaign. He often laments the performance of California schools and accuses Brown of catering to teachers unions.

“We’re just letting everyone in California know that Jerry Brown had a choice between fighting for kids and fighting for the unions that have funded his political career,” Kashkari said. “He picked the unions. He betrayed the kids. If I can get everyone in California to know that, we can win this election.”

Dan Newman, a spokesman for the Brown campaign, dismissed Kashkari’s boxing stop as theatrics.

“Self-funding, silly stunts and now UFC? This guy is trying a bit too hard to be like Meg and Arnold,” Newman said.

Kashkari, who says he works out regularly but has never boxed before, demurred from entering the actual boxing ring, preferring to practice his one-two punch combinations with a trainer and on a punching bag.

“I’ve got a big nose. I’ve got a big target,” Kashkari said. “I’m a little nervous about some kid breaking my nose, because I’m not very good at this.”

His young, fellow trainees seemed unfazed by the newcomer to the class; most continued to go about their drills without paying Kashkari much attention.

Cyla and Jerry Vue, of Sacramento, watched as two of their four children participated in the class. Neither of them had heard of Kashkari before the gym had posted a notice of his upcoming visit on its Facebook page.

“We never knew who he was,” said Cyla Vue, who said she hasn’t paid attention to the coming elections.

Salvador Perez, whose 14-year-old son was training alongside Kashkari, was more familiar with the candidate. He’s rooting for the Republican, although he thinks Kashkari faces long odds.

“He’s probably too far behind in the polls, but I hope he wins,” said Perez, a registered Democrat who said he’s more aligned with the GOP but “too lazy to change parties.”

Perez said he thought Kashkari outperformed Brown in the sole gubernatorial debate last month. He gave the Republican less glowing reviews on his boxing form.

“He doesn’t look agile enough to be out here,” Perez said.

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