Boxing Gloves . . .

By Rick Farris

My first pair came at Christmas, very late 50's, about the time Castro took over Cuba.
I remember opening the present, it was from my grandparents.
They knew what I wanted and needed.

When I asked for a clue as to what it might be, just these letters were given. . . LFG.
LFG was a challenge . . . (L)eather (F)ighting (G)loves.

They got me on that one, but I got two pairs of gloves, which meant I'd have a pair for somebody else to wear.
I now needed sparring partners, and maybe somebody to give me a few tips, not necessarily in that order.

I was now a step closer to becoming a boxer.
I couldn't wait for coach, I wanted to trade leather right away.
I'm about eight-years-old, my friend Jimmy is the same age, he lived acorss the street.

I go outside and find Jimmy and his older brother in their front yard.
They were on the driveway shooting baskets with a new basketball.
I run across the street with the box containing the two pairs of boxing gloves.

"Look what I got . . . " I shout.
Jimmy turns and walks toward me, leaving his older brother shooting hoops.
Jim was my best friend, about a head taller than me, but we were equal in fighting spirit.

Jimmy and I fought most of the kids on neighborhood, including each other more than once.
Neither of us ever won the fights with each other, we'd end up in headlocks in the morning, and playing baseball together in the afternoon.
But if we were together and there was trouble from others, we'd stand up for each other.

Jimmy and I were troublemakers when bored.
I was a small boy who had this stupid habit of "daring" older, bigger kids to fight.
I'd do this with deliberation as a pre-emptive strike on a potential bully.
A bully would shy away, unable to assure his chances of winning in his mind, a non-threat would just blow it off.
But the bottom line was, when it was time to fight, I needed to make a statement, one that would discourage others from trying me

You all can relate to this. Different neighborhoods, but similar challenges. Nobody wants to live in discomfort.
I didn't grow up in as tough a neighborhood, as many would who'd find a career in professional boxing, but kids experience crap everywhere.

My grandfather was the closest thing to a boxer I knew. After WWI he'd returned to America with his English bride.
He went to work in the oil fields of Oklahoma and would fight in "smokers".
My grandfather had raised me on stories of Jack Dempsey.
Dempsey "riding the rails", Dempsey "destroying Willard," Dempsey being "knocked out of the ring by Firpo," only to return and flatten the 'Wild Bull of the Pampas', Dempsey's "long count" fight with Tunney. Dempsey "flattening wrestler Comboy Lutrell."

Now it was time for Grandpa to show me a few things, and he started with the jab.
He told me, "If you can throw a good jab, you can control a fight, and set up a knockout, or discourage an opponent, It can save your ass."
When he said that, I knew the jab was going to be important to me, and it was!

Jump ahead half a decade to:

The mid-60's . . . promoters Cal and Aileen Eaton had just started televising "Boxing From The Olympic" on thursday nights.
I'm nearly 13, still have my gloves, lots of wear & tear.
My neighborhood has changed. I've moved from Orange County to the San Fernando Valley.

I'd come from a tougher neighborhood. My generation in Burbank were not fighters, it was the 60's. Peace & Love.
I was expecting to have to prove myself in a fight. Not necessary. But I was ready.

On thursday nights my grandad and I would watch boxing from the Olympic.
I would look closely at the gloves. When featured in a close-up, I would see the gloves labeled on the wrist support- "SEYER"
I would later learn this was the name "REYES" spelled backwards. Cleto Reyes founded a boxing equipment empire in Mexico.

The SEYER gloves were different from the pillow-like boxing gloves I had been given as a XMAS present years before.
The SEYER gloves were perfectly formed, tight, and shiny. In my young mind, they were beautiful.
I wanted a pair of SEYER gloves. What I really wanted was to become a boxer.

When I became a boxer, I was privatly disappointed that the Junior Golden Gloves matches I fought would not use "SEYER" (or "Reyes") gloves.
However, I really didn't care. All that mattered to me, I was a boxer.
We fought in pillow-like Wilson boxing gloves. They were good gloves, could be used over & over, and would be worn by future world champs.
Some of those champs are legends today. I believe most of the junior amateur gloves used in the mid-60's were 10 oz. but Frank knows for sure.

In 2008, Alberto Reyes, President of Reyes Boxing Equipment, was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame.
The previous year, while conducting interviews with Dan Hanley at the 2007 WBHOF banquet, Reyes donated a pair of his gloves to our production.
Dan and I hung the gloves in the background, as set decoration for our video interviews of boxing legends.
After each interview we had the fighters sign the gloves.

I gave the gloves to one of our "volunteer" film techs, Lance, whom I recruited to help Dan and I record boxing history.
Dan and I both would have liked to keep those gloves, and could have. However, the gloves were just a prop.
Today, our friend Lance has the background boxing gloves, but Dan and I have the very last filmed interview with Mando Ramos.

What Dan and I have is priceless, and you shall be seeing it very soon.
It all started with a pair of boxing gloves.