When Juan Arias, who not long ago was one of the top super featherweights in the world, looks at his young students at the Community Youth Center, he hopes they never have to utter two words.

“What if?”

Arias became one of the elite boxers in the world – he lost by an eighth-round TKO to Joel Casamayor in 2002 in a title elimination bout – even though he didn’t start boxing until he was 21.

The best guys I was fighting all started boxing by the time they were 8 years old,” Arias said. “And when I finally did start boxing, I was working that whole time before I went to train.

“I tell these kids how grateful they should be to be in this kind of gym. They provide everything of them.”

Arias, 36, was hired by CYC head coach Gary Sullenger to be an assistant coach in July. Sullenger trained Arias to a 10-3 record as an amateur and a 36-3-1 mark as a professional. Arias' loss to Casamayor came on the undercard of the Mike Tyson-Lennox Lewis bout. He also lost a 12-round decision to Jesus Chavez for the NABF super featherweight title in 2001.

“I didn’t have enough experience for those big bouts,” Arias said. “But I love this sport that changed my life. Now I want to motivate these kids as to the kind of experience they can have in boxing.”

One of those experiences will be tonight when the CYC, located at 2241 Galaxy Court, hosts some of the top boxers in Northern California. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and general admission is $10. The show will feature eight to 10 bouts and will include Sacramento’s Brandon Gonzales, who is ranked No. 2 in the country at light heavyweight. He will face Randy Rogers of Klamath Falls, Ore.

Several CYC boxers also will be featured on the card.

“I tell these kids, they can change their life,” Arias said. “And it’s not just through boxing, but all the sports they offer here at the Community Youth Center. Any sport here will teach them that they have to train hard and training hard will help in the rest of their lives.”

Although boxing often is viewed as a brutal, nasty sport, Arias said he disagrees.

“I got to travel through boxing and I got to see so many things and I got to meet so many different people. It’s not like everyone says, that it is bad for you. People just don’t know. I did very well in boxing, and I got a lot more than I expected. I started late, even though I loved the sport since I was a child, because my mother didn’t want it. She didn’t want to see me get hit.

“But when I came to the USA (as a 16-year-old from Suyula in Jalisco, Mexico), and stared training, Gary Sullenger saw something in me and told me I could be a fighter. Through boxing, I got confidence in myself that I could do things through hard work. My career gave me great opportunities.

“Friends of mine told me, ‘You were a lucky guy.’ But they didn’t see all the years that I was training, and dreaming.”

Arias’ message to his boxing students is to grab the opportunity and go with it. “That’s what it is all about,” he said. “Time goes so fast. Before you know it, you are 20, and it’s too late.”

“This is like a dream for me,” he said. “I didn’t reach the world title, but now I have a second opportunity to start with young kids and teach them the mistakes that I made. I will pass along little things from my experience. ‘Don’t do this’ or ‘Train this way.’ And, of course, they will be learning from Gary, who is a great coach.”

Contact Jay Heater at jheater@cctimes.com