Artemio Reyes Jr. Headlines Friday Night

Knockout artist Artemio Reyes Jr. has made a successful six-year pro career of blasting out opponents adeptly with rights or lefts. But he’s also pretty good at juggling boxing with business on a daily basis.

Reyes runs a family restaurant in Colton, which is located across the street from a community college and he also travels daily to Indio, where he trains under the guidance of Joel and Antonio Diaz. It’s not an easy mix, especially when the two are 75 miles apart.

“Business has been good,” said Reyes. “It’s a never ending job that requires 24/7 attention, so that keeps me occupied.”

Reyes (22-2, 18 Kos) steps back in the ring and faces another hard-hitter in Christopher Degollado (11-3, 9 Kos) in the main event on Friday, Nov. 21, at the Doubletree Hotel in Ontario. The Thompson Boxing Promotions event will not be televised live.

In the boxing business, Reyes has cultivated a successful stream of victories. A few years ago, a defensive lapse resulted in a quick first-round knockout loss. The six-foot tall welterweight moved his boxing base to Indio and travels more than 90 minutes to Indio Boys and Girls Club to train daily with the brothers Diaz.

The Diaz brothers have established themselves in the top tier of boxing trainers in Southern California. Prizefighters come from all over the world to work with the two former prizefighters who guided Tim “Desert Storm” Bradley to international success. They also work with current lightweight world champion Omar Figueroa of Texas.

Reyes wants that success too and willingly travels extensively in search of a world title opportunity.

“Training with the Diaz brothers has been great. They bring so much knowledge that helps me improve my game,” says Reyes, 28, who travels more than 140 miles roundtrip each day.

Currently Reyes has a six-fight knockout string, but he realizes that holes in his game have kept him from reaching the upper levels. A loss to Alan Sanchez in Las Vegas two years ago forced him to climb back up the ladder once again. Working with the Diaz brothers has opened his eyes.

“Since working with Joel, he has me keeping a good distance of attacking instead of laying on the inside so I have more power from that distance,” said Reyes of the new changes. “It’s been great so far and I continually learn.”

Reyes has long arms and a sinewy physique, kind of a taller version of Mexico’s great bantamweight champion of the 70s, Carlos Zarate. And like Zarate, he has tremendous knockout power in either hand.

Reyes is one of those boxers that has a firm goal in mind and reaching the top has been the target since he strapped on the boxing gloves professionally back in 2008.

“For 2015 my goal would be to get closer to bringing home a world title or capturing it,” says Reyes. “It’s all a process and until then, I want to continue working on getting better so that when it’s my time, I’ll be more than ready.”

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