THE heavyweight division has a lot of moving parts as the list of contenders and pretenders jostle for position under Oleksandr Usyk, waiting for the Ukrainian to vacate a belt or two and throw a few scraps under the table.
Kubrat Pulev and Murat Gassiev are busy freezing Moses Itauma out of the picture. Daniel Dubois is set to contest an IBF eliminator against Frank Sanchez. Joseph Parker travels to the UK next weekend to take on Fabio Wardley in the battle of Interim kings, and so on.
Closer to Itauma in status than the rest of the aforementioned names, American heavyweight contender Richard Torrez Jr is staying active as well. Like many of his stablemates, the 13-0 (11 KOs) Californian could potentially suffer from Top Rank’s lack of stability as the former promotional powerhouse continues to search for a broadcasting partner.
On November 15, in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, Rafael Espinoza defends his WBO featherweight title against Arnold Khegai. Torrez has found his way onto the undercard. While Czech opponent Tomas Salek, 23-7 (14 KOs), is unlikely to offer much resistance, it’s a way to keep the young man busy, likely by scoring an early knockout.
Nathan Gorman finished off 27-year-old Salek in a single round back in 2022. The only saving grace for the Neratovice native is the fact that Torrez can barely do it any faster than Gorman managed. As and when Torrez gets the job done, he can look upwards once more and, with the help of Bob Arum, plot a route towards the top dogs.
His last outing resulted in a dominant points win over Guido Vianello over 10 rounds, which has aged nicely given Vianello’s KO win over Alexis Barriere in Philadelphia last weekend. Joining Torrez and Espinoza in Mexico will be Emiliano Vargas, Lindolfo Delgado and Julian Montalvo.
