THIS AND CLETO REYES, A FRIENDSHIP STORY

By Rodolfo Rosales S.

The stories of ESTO, the athletes' newspaper, and the CLETO REYES gloves, have gone hand in hand. ESTO was born in 1941, with the editorial idea of having the first newspaper with only information on sports and shows. The gloves of the champions began to take shape in 1939, after Don Cleto Reyes participated in an amateur fight in the Peralvillo-Cozumel arena. He put up a great fight, but the blows he received were enough to persuade him not to fight again. However, he decided to fix the gloves he used during the fight. In this way, boxing lost a boxer, but gained the best manufacturer of fighting gloves.

Boxing lover, Don Cleto became an assiduous reader of ESTO, since it was published. In it he found out about the triumphs and defeats of his idols, such as Kid Azteca, Juan Zurita, Joe Conde, Rodolfo Casanova.

On April 18, 1945, the date on which the first world championship fight between the Mexican and champion Juan Zurita and the American Ike Williams took place, the gloves of Don Cleto Reyes were used for the first time and ESTO spread the note about it. .

Don Cleto dreamed of seeing his gloves advertised in ESTO and it was thus, supported by his son, Don Alberto Reyes, that he began a business relationship that became a solid friendship and that has endured over time between the athletes' newspaper and the gloves. of the champions

In what for many years were sepia-colored pages, reports were published with the history of the gloves, as well as with fighters in action, without forgetting the September 1978 column by Don Antonio Hernández (RIP), where he narrated the refusal of the legendary Muhammad Ali, who in September of that year refused to go up to his rematch fight against Leon Spinks, if they did not give him Don Cleto Reyes gloves.

Raúl Ratón Macías, José Medel, Efrén Alacrán Torres, Rubén Olivares, Carlos Zárate, Alfonso Zamora, Rafael Herrera, Rodolfo Martínez, JC Chávez, Erik Morales, Marco Barrera, Juan Manuel Márquez, Miguel Berchelt, Elwin Soto, Jackie Nava, Ana María Torres, Mariana Juárez, Zulina Muñoz, Irma García, Ibeth Zamora and Esmeralda Moreno, among many Mexican world champions, have appeared on the ESTO page with the CLETO REYES gloves well on!stos!

Its pages also reported the deaths of two of the pillars of our company: Mr. Cleto Reyes, in 1999 and Mr. Alberto Reyes, in 2019.

Thus, the history of ESTO and CLETO REYES gloves continues to be written.