Cleto Reyes Sparring Gloves Review
Published November 17, 2008 by Boxing Capital
Cleto Reyes, the self titled ‘Gloves of Champions’ are known worldwide by almost every boxer and boxing fan as they are often seen in high profile televised contests. In addition, many fighters have publicly states they ‘Reyes’ are their preferred gloves, many refer to them as ‘punchers’ gloves.
However, with a retail price of circa GBP 120, we’ve tested these gloves thoroughly, so you can make an informed decision before taking a decision as to whether you should be parting with such a large amount of cash.
For this test, we actually had an advantage – three of our four man testing team have used Cleto Reyes gloves at some stage in the past, so already are well informed in terms of the life span of the gloves.
Our test was conducted using Red 16oz Cleto Reyes Sparring Gloves.
The Look .....
The gloves look excellent – spot on in terms of what you expect from traditional Mexican style sparring gloves; crisp and solid. The gloves are lace ups and they look exactly like the Cleto Reyes contest gloves often seen on TV.
The Fit .....
The Gloves are a good fit but not spectacularly good. When tied correctly and you hand is bandaged the gloves become nice and compact, but there still remains a lot of room for your hand to move inside the gloves, as they are extremely wide. The thumb attachment is also a good fit and the inner lining of the gloves has a nice feel to it.
Protection.....
As always, we believe this to be the most important category of any Glove review as protecting your hands in boxing is essential. At such a high price point, we were expecting excellent protection and on the whole, the gloves deliver this.
Protection of the knuckle, thumb and back of the hand is excellent with significant and durable foam padding. Inside the glove, extra padding is provided around the important knuckle area, which is another plus point.
However, the protection provided around the wrist area is hit and miss – on the top of your wrist, a soft and dense cotton wool type protection is provided, which is excellent. However, protection on the bottom of your wrist/cuff area is poor, where a small amount of thin foam padding is offered.
Durability.....
Our testers previous experience in using these gloves (see above) enables us to make an informed comment on their lifespan – usually we have to be more reserved in this area as we only have the benefit of a 10 day test.
Durability with these gloves is possibly their best attribute – one of our testers used these gloves for bag/pad work and sparring and the gloves lasted for two years! There is no question that they are hard wearing and if used for sparring only, could probably last in excess the aforementioned two years.
One minor gripe is that the ‘Cleto Reyes’ logo on the outside of the gloves doesn’t last long and after approximately three months of use, this starts to crumble, which means you’re gloves won’t look quite so good.
Negatives.....
As ever, we have to inform you of every aspect of the product and there are always negatives to bear in mind, however minor they may be. We’ve already mentioned some of these above have recapped on them here:
Glove Bag: No glove bag is provided, which is a disappointment. When you make a purchase of such a quality product at an equally high price, this would have been a good touch to help preserve the gloves.
Inner Wrist/Cuff Area Protection: Is lacking with only a thin layer of foam provided.
The Look: Is excellent although the logo on the outside of the gloves fades after a couple of months of regular use
Testimonials.....
There is a very long list of champions who have used Cleto Reyes gloves, as listed on their website (cletoreyes.com.mx). The illustrious names go through many nations and generations and include Kostya Tszyu, Carlos Monzon, Lennox Lewis, Muhammad Ali , Erik Morales and Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Value.....
Despite being in the top price bracket of sparring gloves, it is our view that the gloves do offer good value. Their durability is among the best in the market and is definitely the biggest sales point for us. They offer good protection in all round, excellent gloves.
Judges Scorecard
Value - 8
Durability - 10
Protection - 9
The Look - 9.5
The Fit - 8.5
Overall - 9
Summary
These are excellent gloves that will survive hard wearing use over long periods. Despite a high price point, they do offer good value.
Comparison - Our panel of 4 testers compared these to the Lemarr Ultimate Pro Edition MKII Gloves that we recently reviewed and despite the above, positive reviews, 3 out of 4 thought the Lemarr Gloves were a better purchase and represented much better value for money at GBP 59.99.
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