* CutMeMick visits the World Boxing Hall of Fame 2008 *

[CutMeMick]

Next up I met Alberto Reyes, he's the 4th son of Don Cleto Reyes the creater of the greatest glove ever made. He runs the company now and was there as he along with Miguel Diaz were inducted in the expanded catagory.

Albertos a very smart man, I asked him a few questions about his dad and how his father got started with boxing gloves. He said his dad was always into boxing and then he realized that in gyms gloves had only a certain lifetime span and gloves would get busted easily then they either threw them away or tried to fix them, he soon began to take gloves and was reparing them and he learned about the stitching and how the gloves were being made and realized he could make them become more durable and better and he did. Today Cleto Reyes is easily known as the best and the premier boxing glove. I love me some Everlast and I know it's been around longer then Cleto but if you've ever put on some Cleto and some Everlast gloves you can feel the difference. Cleto is the punchers glove and the way they are made are with a precise fight.

I even served for Alberto Reyes as a translater for him I'll tell you more about that later.
(For my services he gave me a that Cleto Reyes glove you see me holding)

[CutMeMick]

Right next to him was one of my favorites to watch a fighter who always gave it his all and fighter who was a fan favorite and whom we recently had a good chat about when Danny_G posted one his more famous pictures.

It was Danny "Little Red" Lopez, wow! what a treat it was to talk with him about his fights with Salvador Sanchez I probably talked to him for another good hour, asking him about the fight and how he felt as the fights went on. He said he felt he had enough to come on strong late in the fight but that his body just did not respond to him like he would have wanted. I aksed him about his fight Olivares he smiled and said what a fight that was, I said I agree it was a sweet battle he said the Forum was just jammed packed to the top that night. He said Olivares shots were hard but he said he knew he hit harder them him and that he knew if he caught him with the right shots he'd win.



I had Lopez sign one of my gloves...

[CutMeMick]

After giving a quick walk through the table of boxers, the crowd was bigger there so I decided to give the room a complete walk through since I hadn't done that yet so I wasn't sure what else or who else was there.

As I start walking I notice from a distance Tommy "The Duke" Morrison.
No shit!!! I was like holy shit this is the day of surprises I'm just seeing people whom I did not even expect here.

I didn't really chat with the Duke as he was real quiet and just pretty straight forward. I just asked if he was fighting again and he said he wasn't sure. I did notice he had 2 HUGE slits/scars on his arms/biceps.
Anyone know anything about that?

[CutMeMick]

Last and def. not least I met one of my all time fav. fighters.

Someone who honestly I never thought I'd meet since I knew he's based in NY and now with his age the traveling becomes harder and harder to do. But my god what a moment this was for me...

My heart stopped beating and I put my bag down on the floor and just stared in amasement. I just could not believe my eyes that he was there...
A fighter whom epitimizes the word boxer in every sense of the word. Someone who saw it all and someone who fought the best and premier fighters of his era and as we discussed has one of the best resumes all time in boxing.

When his family 1st migrated from the Virgin Islands he was forced to get a job from a very young age. He started working at a hat factory and there one day it was hot and he asked his supervisor if he could take off his shirt cause he was hot. His supervisor said go ahead, he takes off his shirt and he sees this kid who's fucken built like truck. Thick neck, broad shoulders, wide chest... Just built, well his supervisor just happened to be friends with Gil Clancy, Gil began training the kid and Gil over the years did not enter any of his amateurs into tournaments on the 1st year of training but he saw this kid was something special so in 1957 he entered the kid into the NY Golden GLoves and the kid lost in the finals.
The next year he entered the kid again int he NY Golden Gloves and this time he took it all he won the tournament...
That very same year he turned pro and with just 24 fights and a record of 22-2 he fought for the World Welterweight title and won via TKO in the 13th round and would begin one of the best/most tragic trilogy ever.

Seeing him was just something very special to me and getting to talk to him and meet him was mind blwoing...
THE LEGEND that is Emile Griffith...






It was hard to understand him but I got most of it as I tied words with one another... It was great to see him it really was.

Now here's where I served as a translater for Alberto Reyes as he talked with Emile. Alberto just wanted to meet him and exchange some words him so I served as a translater for Alberto as his English is not good.

[CutMeMick]

All in all it was a great day for me, having met all these people and talk and have them share some moments of their lives with me is always something I appreciate it...

I also have a short video that I'll upload today.

[Youngblood]

Amazing stuff.

I'm so jealous of you for this stuff, you have no idea.

[Saddo]

very cool stuff mate... i was gonna post when you were making it but relised it was locked and what you were doing

[CGM]

Interesting stuff Mick, thanks for posting.

[C-Lo]

Good stuff Mick!

[leftylee]

Awesome stuff Mick, I bet you had a blast.

Cool t-shirt as well you're wearing

[Diane]

Wow, looks like you had a great time!!

It's too bad that Lennox and Pernell were no shows, that would have been nice to meet them as well, but it looks like your were in heaven without them anyways.

Meeting Emile must have been pretty emotional, it would have been for me. I'll admit, I didn't know much about him or his career until I watched Ring Of Fire, and what an amazing story. I got emotional, and felt the torment he felt about the death of Benny Paret, and I was a crying mess when he met Benny's son at the end. I only hope that he is more at peace with what happened.

Thanks for sharing.

[holmcall]

Right next to him was one of my favorites to watch a fighter who always gave it his all and fighter who was a fan favorite and whom we recently had a good chat about when Danny_G posted one his more famous pictures.

It was Danny "Little Red" Lopez, wow! what a treat it was to talk with him about his fights with Salvador Sanchez I probably talked to him for another good hour, asking him about the fight and how he felt as the fights went on. He said he felt he had enough to come on strong late in the fight but that his body just did not respond to him like he would have wanted. I aksed him about his fight Olivares he smiled and said what a fight that was, I said I agree it was a sweet battle he said the Forum was just jammed packed to the top that night. He said Olivares shots were hard but he said he knew he hit harder them him and that he knew if he caught him with the right shots he'd win.



I had Lopez sign one of my gloves...

They have been stiffing this great warrior for years by not inducting him into the IBHF. If Saad was Gatti before Gatti, Little Red was Saad before Saad!!

[brucelee]

Excellent stuffs again CMM!!!

[JT Rock]

Good stuff.. Just keep living the dream

[CutMeMick]

Good stuff.. Just keep living the dream

Every moment JT and you know it my man.