It’s the Pound Sign for Unknown Caller

So who is Julio Gonzalez and how in the world did he get a shot at Roy Jones’ undisputed light-heavyweight title?

There are three good reasons:

* Gonzalez, who’ll face Jones Saturday night at Staples Center, is a relative unknown and Jones, although considered among the best fighters in the world, seems to like unheralded opponents who don’t have to make him work too hard. Jones has fought a policeman, a mailman and a schoolteacher, and presumably is looking for a butcher, a baker and a candlestick maker.

* Gonzalez is a local kid, from La Habra and Huntington Beach, and promoter Bob Arum needed a local angle for Jones’ first fight in Los Angeles.

* Gonzalez is a strong, but slow, methodical puncher, a perfect foil for the nimble, quick Jones, who is always looking for guys he can dance around in order to preserve his brittle hands.

Some of the media have overlooked Gonzalez in the days leading to this fight, choosing instead to question Jones about the possibility of a fight against Felix Trinidad or Dariusz Michalczewski, as if Gonzalez was a sparring partner.

The oddsmakers have dismissed Gonzalez as well, making him a 20-1 underdog.

Gonzalez’s biggest claim to fame is a fight in which he was knocked down three times. It was against Julian Letterlough in February in Columbus, Ohio. Letterlough also went down twice in a bout hailed as one of the best of the year. Gonzalez, apparently out in the 10th round as the referee’s count reached six, somehow found the strength to get up and win a decision.

Only Arum has defended Gonzalez’s credentials for facing Jones, calling Gonzalez “the best light-heavyweight in the world, with the exception of Jones.”

Truth be told, Gonzalez not only understands the doubters but acknowledges he’d be right up there with them Saturday night if he wasn’t otherwise occupied in the ring.

“If it wasn’t me,” Gonzalez said, “if it was someone else fighting Roy Jones, I would think the same way.”

Such honesty is refreshing, and so is Gonzalez. In a sport driven by big mouths and bigger egos, Gonzalez is an aberration. He’s soft-spoken, humble and friendly, determined to enjoy his 15 minutes of fame but also to make the most of the opportunity.

That’s understandable. Gonzalez has experienced the bleak alternatives to life as a prizefighter. Any time his hands ache from pounding the heavy bag, he remembers all too well how they ached from picking garlic or grapes or onions in the fields of Fresno where Gonzalez worked with his family as a teenager.

Born in Guerrero Negro, Mexico, Gonzalez came to this country at 12 and was in the fields by 13.

Even then, the competitive drive he would later demonstrate in the ring, the drive that enabled him to somehow get back on his feet after Letterlough had nearly knocked him into oblivion, was already in high gear.

In the garlic fields, the workers had to cut the roots and the stems before stuffing the garlic plant into a bucket. It took about 500 plants to fill a bucket. It took one bucket to earn a dollar. On an eight-hour shift that began at 6 a.m., Gonzalez was determined to fill 100 buckets.

And he did.

He also has worked as a busboy, a handyman and in a bowling alley. In pursuit of his desire to become an airplane mechanic, Gonzalez attended Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa.

But Mack Kurihara had bigger dreams for Gonzalez.

Kurihara is a trainer who looks so much like Mr. Miyagi, the martial-arts mentor in the “Karate Kid” movies, that his card reads, “Mr. Miyagi Kurihara: Learn from the Master.”

And like the reel character, the real-life Miyagi found a kid with raw talent in need of serious training.

“He was 15 1/2 when I first saw him,” Kurihara said. “He was a quick learner because he wanted to learn.”

What was Gonzalez’s biggest weakness at that age?

“The only one I could see,” Kurihara said, “was that he had no ride to the gym after school. I told him, ‘I’ll pick you up, but you’d better come right home from school. Don’t waste my time.’ ”

Gonzalez made the most of his time with Kurihara. Four years after the two hooked up, Gonzalez was in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta representing Mexico.

Unfortunately for Gonzalez, in his first Olympic bout, he found himself facing Vassili Jirov of Kazakhstan, a world-class fighter who would go on to become a cruiserweight champion. Two minutes 10 seconds into the second round, the bout was stopped, ending Gonzalez’s brief Olympic experience.

Less than a year later, at age 20, Gonzalez turned pro and hasn’t lost since, having gone 27-0 with 17 knockouts.

It has been a low-profile 27-0. Gonzalez has fought mostly no-names in undercard matches.

His manager, Norm Kaplan, has been asking Arum to give Gonzalez a high-profile match. But Arum, although he claims Gonzalez is one of the best in the world, resisted even after the Letterlough match. Finally, after Gonzalez scored a technical knockout over Konstantin Semerdjev in April, the deal with Jones was signed.

Can Gonzalez possibly be ready for such a giant leap?

“When I first heard about it,” Gonzalez said, “I thought, ‘Naa, it can’t be true.’ It seemed kind of too soon. I was stunned and surprised. But then I realized, yeah, this is what I’ve been waiting for.”

There was no hesitation on Kurihara’s part.

“This is what you wanted,” he told Gonzalez. “Now you got it. Let’s go.”

Gonzalez, 24, hopes Jones is among his many doubters.

“That would be good,” Gonzalez said. “Let him not take me seriously. That’s when surprises come. I hope he is playing basketball and going on vacation.

“It’s time for Roy Jones to lose. He’s been the champ for a long time. I know he’s the greatest or one of the greatest. But if people like me don’t challenge him, he’ll never lose.”

Gonzalez, who has been dubbed the “Mexican Rocky,” with Mr. Miyagi in his corner, going up against Roy Jones, an apparent mismatch that nevertheless promises to pack an arena.

As Don King would say, only in Hollywood.

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Boxing at Staples Center

Saturday, 6 p.m.