Keep Your Guard Up, Rocky, Here Come the Rockettes

And now: San Diego women learning the manly art of boxing.

The class is three mornings weekly, at the downtown San Diego Athletic Club, taught by Jesse Valdez, 45, a bronze medalist in the 1972 Olympics and a cameraman for KGTV (Channel 10) since 1976.

His students skip rope, hit the heavy bag and try to land punches on Valdez while he’s wearing protective gear. Lace on the gloves and go to work.

Most of Valdez’s students are men: downtown lawyers (including a judge) and other professional types (including some athletes).

But half a dozen or so are women who say boxing is just the ticket for exercise, self-defense and general stress reduction.

“After boxing in the morning, the rest of the day is easy,” said Jan Percival, 38, who runs her own public relations firm, Scribe Communications.

“It’s so much fun to get to hit something every day,” said Debra Bermudes, 24, an account assistant who works for Percival.

“Most people don’t get to hit things.”

Boxing is thinking and reacting, and Valdez teaches footwork, back-and-forth, circle, side-to-side, hit and move.

“It’s a much more cerebral form of exercise than I’ve ever done before,” said Shandra Kessler, 28, a deputy district attorney in the South Bay office.

She credits the boxing class with helping her pass the Bar exam: “It’s a way to get your mind ready for the day.”

“I like the fact it’s a very active exercise,” said Jeanne Kiltonic, 32, producer of the 6:30 news for Channel 10.

“It seems like it would take a lot of brute strength, but actually a lot of it is placement and movement of the hips and legs to get the maximum effect for your size.”

The women come and go at their own pace for the pre-work workouts. Ex-Rolodex Madam Karen Wilkening has even dropped in a few times to learn some fundamentals.

For self-defense, Valdez says, boxing can’t be beat: “A man wouldn’t expect a woman to hit him with a left hook or right cross.”

He adds: “Some women hit harder than men.”

Somehow, I’m not surprised.

No Thanks for the Memories

See such things, hear such things.

* Offbeat disc jockey Doug Ray is leaving KKOS in Carlsbad to do a morning show at KCLB in Palm Springs.

Among his stated reasons: A chance to meet Bob Hope and talk him out of doing those specials.

* More rock ‘n’ roll group names from North County rock writer Ken Leighton: Blazin’ Raisin, Methadone Cocktail, Dead White and Blue, Hillbilly Frankenstein, and Wax Cat Cinema.

* How angry are people about the check scandal?

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Coronado) got a letter addressed to Dear Arrogant and Unrepentant: “Was it you or from the broken pipe off Point Loma?”

Signed, Nauseated in Lake San Marcos.

* A customer has pulled his account from the Bank of Coronado to protest the fact that Duncan Hunter also banks there. So says the bank president.

* A local rock music group called Oh! Ridge has a comedy routine with references to Dick Silberman, Supervisor Susan Golding and drugs.

* Just leaving La Jolla: Jimmy Dean and top executives of his sausage company after some R-and-R.

* Betty Broderick has been transferred from the prison at Frontera in San Bernardino County to one at Madera just north of Fresno.

Although the Madera prison is newer and less crowded, Broderick is said to be annoyed that it will make it more difficult for her children to visit.

Some Plain English History

If you get a chance, you might want to attend the Pacific Coast Conference on British Studies at the University of San Diego next weekend.

Some of the seminars promise topics you might otherwise not encounter. Among them:

* Robinson Crusoe and English History: Fathers, Guns and Vomit.

* All and Warts: Charles I’s Self Portraiture.

* Verses With a Good Deal About Sucking: Percy Bysshe Shelley and Christina Rosetti.