Where Young Boxers Get a Fighting Chance

Mauricio Ramos shifted his feet as his powerful shoulders let loose with a left-hand jab, followed by a quick right.

One, two. One, two, hook.

In the two years that the 15-year-old has been training at the Westminster Boxing Club, Ramos has discovered three things: a trainer, how to drop 50 pounds and himself.

“I want to be a boxer and make money off it,” Mauricio said.

Over nearly three decades, thousands of would-be fighters have passed through the Westminster Boxing Club’s door on Locust Street looking for a workout -- or something more.

Local legend Carlos Palomino trained there, and his reign as world welterweight champion from June 1976 to January 1979 put the club on the map.

Palomino’s trainer, Noe Cruz of Fullerton, who died at 83 in March, and Palomino’s manager, the late Jackie McCoy, who was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame, are revered names among the gym’s old-timers.

“There have been a lot of legends who passed through here,” said David Gonzales, a former amateur boxer who bought the gym in 2003. Among them: former world lightweight champion Armando “Mando” Ramos, and contenders such as light-heavyweight Ernie Magdaleno, featherweight Marcos Licona and super-lightweight Raul Franco.

On a recent evening, about 40 young boxers sparred, jumped rope and hit the speed bag while their trainers stood nearby. The gym echoes with the rhythmic sound of leather meeting leather.

Whap. Whap, whap, whap.

Then there’s the bell, which Gonzales has rigged to go off every three minutes. “It lets them learn how to breathe, be ready for rounds,” he said.

On the walls are old fight posters of Oscar de La Hoya, black-and-white fight photographs and yellowed newspaper clippings extolling the exploits of local fighters.

Palomino and Cruz founded the club in 1974. The two coaxed Bernie Spencer, a Westminster trainer, to lend them a boxing ring he had at his home.

They rented a warehouse off Goldenwest Street in Westminster. A few years later they moved the gym to its present location, formed a nonprofit with a board of directors and successfully sought funding from United Way to help train local kids free of charge.

Today, the club is a for-profit operation under Gonzales.

“My goal is to break even and have a place for the youngsters to train,” said Gonzales, 35. “Someday I hope to have a champion out of here.”

Everyone wants a champ here. When young fighters arrive, trainers size them up, going down a mental checklist: foot speed, check. Fast hands, check. Power, check.

They’re looking for another Palomino or Ancee Gideon. Gideon was a homeless Haitian refugee until trainers Jesse Reid and Noe Cruz took him under their wing.

For about three years in the 1990s, Gideon trained and all but lived at the Westminster Boxing Club. He won the national bantamweight amateur title, then turned pro. He never made it to the top, but some of his fights were televised on cable. Gideon retired in the late 1990s a local hero; his picture can be found in the gym and at nearby stores and businesses.

The boxing club has been credited with rescuing more than one youth from a local gang that frequents nearby Sigler Park.

“One of those kids was George Garcia,” said Palomino, 56, now a businessman in Studio City.

Garcia, Palomino recalled, was small, but he had a street tough’s swagger when he first came into the gym.

“He was a little kid, about 118 pounds, but he was the leader of his gang,” Palomino said. “He came in the gym, looked around with this attitude, like ‘I can kick anybody’s butt in here.’ ”

They put him in the ring, Palomino said, “and he got creamed.” Garcia stayed and later became a professional bantamweight, he said.

“The whole neighborhood is a good recruiting area,” Westminster Police Sgt. Darrick Vincent said.

He should know. One day, while on patrol, Vincent popped in and met Cruz.

“I ended up being trained by Noe,” he said.

With no boxing experience, Vincent trained for four months in the 156-pound weight class and won a silver medal in the California Police Summer Games in 1991.

A year later, he took the gold.

But while the gym has long been a place of opportunity for young men, it wasn’t for women until recently.

“Every day I would pass by here and I had all this curiosity about the place,” said Julie Rubalcava, who lived in the neighborhood and first visited the Westminster Boxing Club when she was 12.

“But when I first came inside, I was told by the guys, ‘Hey! No girls can box in here!’ ”

Now 20, Rubalcava is undefeated after four pro bouts and regarded as one of the gym’s best boxers. The old-timers claim her as one of their own.

She works out harder than most men and punches like a hammer, said Richard Garcia, her trainer. She is married, has a daughter and attends Golden West College.

“My goal is to win a title ... in two different weight classes,” Rubalcava said.