Vintage Ray Flores Boxing Gloves

[ShayeAyre]

Hi there, I know this discussion goes back a few years, but I have 2 pairs of old boxing gloves I'd like to sell and thought someone here might be interested. These vintage gloves were handed down to me by my late grandfather, a boxer and collector. Both pairs are in excellent condition given their age and especially their purpose! Made of lambskin with horse hair stuffing, both show minor surface wear; the leather has some cracking but no major tearing or holes. The oxblood red Ray Flores pair (size sm/med) has cotton lining and labels that are nearly pristine; the labels on the brown Sammy Frager pair (size med/lg) reflect quite a bit more wear. I'm hoping to obtain certificates of authenticity, but the name "Aragon" is hand-written inside both Ray Flores gloves, while "Davey" is handwritten (albeit rather faded) inside one of the Sammy Frager. Each pair is hard to find and extremely rare - both are such an awesome piece of boxing history!

 

[ShayeAyre]

Flores gloves are like my white whale.
Tried to get them a few times on ebay but never won the auction.
Don't want to pay upwards of 200 for them regardless.

Anybody have any?
Are they old fashioned gloves like Shevlin or do they have more of a modern feel?
From the pictures, they look very much like Shevlins with maybe a more modern inner cuff.
I like my Shevlins but I'm definitely not looking for another old fashioned style glove, especially in a lace up.

Hi there, I have a pair for sale. Are you still looking for any? I posted a comment with pics at the end of this thread.

 

[makedansure]

shaye didn't those flores sell? pretty gloves.

Also, eric, I believe was looking for the Dan Mosby iteration of the Flores gloves, not the Ray Flores ones. Great little collection, hope you get something good for them.

 

[ShayeAyre]

shaye didn't those flores sell? pretty gloves.

Also, eric, I believe was looking for the Dan Mosby iteration of the Flores gloves, not the Ray Flores ones. Great little collection, hope you get something good for them.

They did, but the buyer backed out after winning the auction. They've been relisted on eBay.

 

[Klenze]

Would be you be kind enough to shoot me a pm of exactly which patterns and sizes you have to sell and prices. Thanks!

Can anyone tell me WHICH DECADE these kind of 14oz gloves were produced?

 

[makedansure]

Can anyone tell me WHICH DECADE these kind of 14oz gloves were produced?

these don't look like Flores. Any more pics?

 

[topboxer11]

from the Reno Gazette way back when:
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This is a kind of stuf the gloves smith wants to read.
Loved this piece!
Thank you
Everyone knows about the city that beer made famous but nobody seems to know much about Burlingame, Calif... Burlingame has a claim to fame but it's just not as well publicized as Milwaukee's claim. One of Burlingame's leading citizens is known by professional fighters all over the world despite the fact that his fame, hasn't rubbed off on Burlingame, - Ray Flores makes boxing gloves. . The Flores' family has been making the gloves for 50 years. You don't see Flores gloves in many places these days but where you do see them they're often worn by the game's best. Ex-world lightweight champion Mando Ramos insists on wearing the Flores gloves. "A' good glove is like a tool," the 64-year-old Flores says. "If it fits good a guy wants to keep using it." Because of Ramos' insistence, the gloves were worn by Ramos and Pedro Carrasco when they fought for the lightweight crown this year in Los Angeles. Undefeated lightweight Ray Lunny III of Palo Alto is another fighter that Flores says, "Wouldn't fight without my gloves." Although gloves are overlooked by the public, boxing men have always placed great importance on them. "Lacing up the Levinson’s" was almost a boxing slogan in the 1920s. It was a tribute to Sol Levinson and the gloves he manufactured. When Levinson's glove making days were over it was a leather worker Frank Flores, Ray’s father, that took the pattern and made improvements. Ray Flores took over making the gloves in 1940 and one of his first improvements was "more padding on the sides of the gloves.” "These guys don't get cauliflower ears anymore because the gloves are padded on the sides." When boxing was experiencing better days in the late 1940s and the early 1950s, Flores had four employees making the gloves that "Joe Louis liked." However, it's only a sideline for him now. The only guy that makes Flores gloves is Ray Flores. He makes them in a back room of his Burlingame home and it takes him about two and a half hours to make a pair. "I've tried to quit a couple of times but they call me up and ask me to make a couple of sets." His gloves are still the ones that are still the most common in the Bay Area although he only makes 60 pairs a year. One of the guys that's asked Flores for his gloves is Carson City promoter Bill Dickson. Flores was visiting in the area has assured Dickson that he'll have Flores gloves for his next [card]. Many of the gloves in use these days are made of plastic but Flores still uses cowhide. When you talk to Flores about the history of his gloves it's almost like talking about the history of boxing. Everyone will always remember Sonny Liston and Flores has a special reason to remember the "Big Bear." "I had to make a special pattern for Liston he had such a big hand," Flores says. "That's the biggest glove I ever made." The Flores glove that Liston used in a Denver fight with Zora Folley measured eight inches across compared to the average glove that's "five or six inches." There have been Flores gloves for 50 years but Ray Flores doesn't act like he's too sentimentally involved with them. When you ask him how long he's going to make his gloves you expect a Pat O'Brien-type who says, "I'll make them until I die." But that's not exactly a Ray Flores-type reply. He says, "I bought $400 worth of hides the other day. I'll make the gloves until I use those hides up. "It'll take me at least a year to use them up so I guess I'll be making gloves another year." That's good, news for fighters like Mando Ramos and Ray Lunny III. Flores gloves never made Burlingame, Calif., famous but it wasn't the gloves' fault.

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I always wondered if Flores and Levinson had a connection. Enjoy!