Uppercut Magazine.com - Reyes vs. Molina

By David A. Avila

Almost daily Artemio “The King” Reyes walks into the crowded hillside boxing gym in Riverside with a smile for his friends and stable mates and shakes everyone’s hand before getting his hands wrapped for battle.

The ritual is just one small part of his daily routine.

Unknown to those outside of his close relatives and boxing cadre, Reyes’s father has been in a state of coma since 2008. A car accident left Artemio Reyes Sr. unconscious and now being cared for at the Reyes home.

The Reyes family refuses to give up on their patriarch’s survival.

“Of course not,” says Reyes.

Refusing to surrender is how Reyes (13-1, 11 KOs) has become a rising welterweight contender ready to battle former U.S. Olympian Javier Molina (9-0, 4 KOs) on Friday Oct. 28. The boxing encounter takes place at Bally’s Event Center in Atlantic City. Showtime will televise.

Boxing can be an all consuming ordeal in its own right. But Reyes not only trains his body for prizefighting, he also maintains his father’s former place at the head of the family. Attending school, running the family restaurant in Colton and watching over his father are an essential part of his daily schedule.

He never complains and seldom speaks of his family’s predicament.

“I don’t let it overwhelm me,” said Reyes, 25, who lives in San Bernardino. “I do it one thing at a time.”

Kaliesha West, the current WBO bantamweight titleholder, has known Reyes for eight years and would often hitch rides with him to distant gyms.

“Junior is the type of person who has tough love. He doesn’t like to show emotions,” said West, 23, who is a former stable mate. “He would say things here and there and say I’m going to do what I got to do. He didn’t like talking about it.”

Reyes’s father was an avid boxing fan who originally came to the U.S. from Mexico City. Boxing was a favorite sport for the father and became the son’s interest too. And then the horrible accident happened.

“On a rainy day he lost control on the freeway and hit a big rig,” says Reyes. 

West recalls seeing the Reyes family visit the hospital in Loma Linda where their father was being treated.

“I remember he took a lot of time away from boxing. Because I work at the hospital I’d see him go in and out of the hospital,” said West who worked at Loma Linda University Medical Center. “Junior took it really hard. His dad was his idol. They don’t want to give up.”

Molina

Facing Reyes in the prize ring will be Molina, a skillful fighter who captured a place on the 2008 U.S.A Boxing team that participated in the Olympics in China. Though still undefeated, Molina has endured several setbacks due to hand injuries.

“It's show time with this fight,” said Molina who lives in Norwalk and trains in Maywood.”I know Reyes well and it'll be a fight, but that's nothing new.  That's what fans want to see and I'm ready to put on a show.”

Molina and Reyes sparred each other years ago.

“I sparred him when I was in the amateurs a long time ago,” said Reyes, adding that people express surprise upon learning that two leading Southern California boxing products are fighting each other on the other side of the country. “I’m fighting on the East Coast for the first time.”

Reyes said a small army of his family members are traveling to New Jersey to watch him fight. They have a strong family unit and aren’t about to let him battle alone.

“I have a good 16 to 20 people coming,” said Reyes with little emotion. “It looks like I’m going to have my own legion of supporters.”

But not all of Reyes family can attend because back home a few will tend to their family patriarch. One day they hope he can personally see how “Junior” is doing in the prize ring.

“He’s like our child cause we take care of him 24 hours a day,” said Reyes about his father. “We hope one day that he will wake up. His body is functioning and doing everything that a body will do. One day… you never know.”

Fights on television

Fri. Showtime, 11 p.m., Javier Molina (9-0) vs. Artemio Reyes (13-1).

Fri. Telefutura, 11:30 p.m., Eloy Perez (22-0-2) vs. Ira Terry (24-6).