Sergio Reyes was an outstanding amateur boxer who won many championships including the 1988 Golden Gloves, and the 1991 U.S. Amateur Championships. After a long and glorious amateur career that saw him fight in the 1992 Olympic games. He did not win a medal in those games, and turned professional in Jan. of 1993.
The former Marine started off with a lot of buzz in boxing circles, and quickly ran his pro record to
That talk started to drop off as Reyes scored knockouts in 3 of his next 4 bouts. Standing unbeaten at 8-0, with 3 by KO, Reyes was stepped up into his first test against higher level opposition March 23, 1994 when he took on 78 fight veteran Javier "Suzuki" Diaz and won a clear cut unanimous decision victory at the HemisFair arena in San Antonio, Texas.
In his next fight, Reyes pitched a near shutout victory over 10 rounds over Juan Francisco Soto, and he was now a top contender, and named as the challenger for the IBF Bantamweight World title against defending champion Orlando Canizales (37-1-1). The All-Texas showdown was held in the home town of the champion, and was televised nationally. It was a highly anticipated meeting of an untested up-and-coming contender against a powerful and highly respected champion. The bout did not disappoint. The challenger Reyes was dropped in the 3rd round, but got up off the deck to rally back, but when the 12 rounds were over, the scorecards showed the Champion retaining his world title on scores of 114-113, 115-112, and 116-111. It was a close and hard fought battle that actually raised Sergio's stock.
Just about 5 months later, Reyes won his first title belt with another close and greuling 12 round decision, this time defeating defending USBA champion Mario Diaz (26-4) on scores of 118-112, 116-112, and 115-114. Reyes was 11-1, and now the USBA Bantamweight champion.
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| No doubt what Sergio's goal was! |
Reyes was off just 3 months before stepping into the ring for his first title defense. June 20, 1995 was the night Reyes faced "The Hatian Hammer" Ancee Gideon (12-7-1) in defense of the USBA Bantamweight Title. Reyes did not perform as well as expected, and it was Gideon pulling off the clear upset via unanimous decision on wide scores of 118-108, 118-109, and 119-107. It was back to the drawing board for the disappointed but still hungry contender.
Sergio was away from the game for a while, but a little less than a Year-and-a-Half later, he was given the opportunity to kill-two-birds-with-one-stone. Canizales was named as the challenger in a rematch with Orlando Canizales, only this time, it would be in a higher weight class, and it would be for the vacant IBA Featherweight title. Sergio could get revenge against the man who put the first loss on his record, and he could gain his first world title in the process! The fight was held Nov. 3, 1996 in Chiba, Japan. It was the semi-main event along with Crawford Grimsley vs George Foreman for the WBU & Vacant IBA Heavyweight titles.
The fight started out pretty much as a carbon copy of the first fight, but as the rounds went by, it was starting to become apparent that Canizales devastating power was taking a toll on the game, and busy Reyes. It was round 10 when Reyes had enough, and referee Frank Garza waived the fight to a halt.
Reyes bounced back about 5 months later with a nice win over tough journeyman Arturo Estrada (21-20-1). Reyes didn't stay busy though, fighting just once in 1997 (the win over Estrada), and once in 1998, treating his Dallas/Fort Worth fans to a tko win over Hector Santana. It was another year before Reyes took a "tune-up" bout against Edwin Zarate, and then 1 month later, Reyes stepped back into the world class spotlight against highly regarded contender Derrick "Smoke" Gainer for a non-title match-up held in Gainer's hometown of Pensacola Florida. It was pretty much one last charge at contention, but Derrick Gainer stopped Reyes in round 5.
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| Sergio Reyes in his amateur bout against Johnny Tapia |
After nearly 7 years out of the ring, Reyes came back for "1 more" match but dropped a close 6 round decision to Carlos Madrid of El Paso, Texas. That bout was on the undercard of Evander Holyfield vs Jeremy Bates and it was Sergio's finale.
Sergio Reyes was a celebrated amateur star, and although his pro career was relatively short, it was exciting for his fans. He didn't win a world title, but his local fights were very satisfying for his fans, he did win the USBA title, and his 2 meetings with the great Orlando Canizales are well remembered by hard core boxing fans!
Check out his complete pro record: SERGIO REYES ON BOXREC
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If you would like to see Sergio Reyes in ring action, I have the following bouts available on DVD:
PRO:
FELIZARDO CARRAZCO [w-4]
JUAN FRANCISCO SOTO [w-10]ORLANDO CANIZALES #1 [L-12] {IBF Bantam Title}
MARIO DIAZ [w-12] {USBA Bantam Title}
ANCEE GIDEON [L-12] {USBA Bantam Title}
ORLANDO CANIZALES #2 [tko-by-10] {IBA Feather Title}
DERRICK GAINER [tko-by-5]
AMATEUR:
Johnny Tapia [w-3]
Unknown Amateur Opponent
Vladislav Antonov (Russia) (1990 dual)
Lionel Odum (1990 US Amateur Championships)
Enrique Carrion (Cuba) [w-3] (1990 GWG)
Wayne Chandler (1991 U.S. Amateur Championships)
Paul Ayala (1992 Oympic Boxing Trials)
Lionel Odum
Sean Fletcher (1991Olympic Festival)(*Begin Round 2)
Sean Fletcher (1992 Olympic Boxoffs)
Harold Ramirez (1992 Olympics)
Gwang Li (Korea) (1992 Olympics)
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