Richard Torrez Jr.

Richard Torrez Jr. is an American heavyweight southpaw whose professional rise has been defined by a high stoppage rate and a run through multiple regional belts. Fighting under the nicknames “Kiki” and “The Gentleman Boxer,” Torrez stands 188 cm with a 193 cm reach and carries a 14–1 record with 12 stoppage wins. He remains an active contender in the heavyweight ranks and has collected several regional honours during his ascent. Torrez turned heads early in his career with a string of first- and second-round stoppages in 2022. Between March and October of that year he recorded early KO/TKO wins over Allen Melson, Roberto Zavala Jr., Marco Antonio Canedo and Ahmed Hefny — the Hefny victory reported on a Madison Square Garden undercard. Those finishes set the tone for 2023, when Torrez continued to stop opponents, recording a first-round RTD over James Bryant and further early-round TKO victories against Willie Jake Jr. and Tyrrell Anthony Herndon before stepping up to longer assignments late that year with an eighth-round TKO of Curtis Harper. Across 2024 Torrez maintained momentum, opening with a first-round TKO of Donald Haynesworth on a Top Rank undercard and moving into regional title contention. On May 18, 2024, he was reported to win the vacant WBC‑NABF Junior Heavyweight regional title with a fifth-round stoppage of Brandon Moore. He followed with a reported defence by disqualification win over Joey Dawejko in September and a retained NABF Junior Heavyweight TKO over Isaac Muñoz Gutierrez in December, per the available sources. Torrez’s most significant title night came on April 5, 2025, when a Nevada commission result sheet recorded him as the winner of three vacant regional belts — the IBF North American Heavyweight, the WBC‑NABF Heavyweight and the WBO‑NABO Heavyweight — after a unanimous decision over Guido Vianello. He later recorded a first-round TKO on November 15, 2025, over Tomáš Šálek in a bout promoted as a defence or retention of the WBC‑NABF and WBO‑NABO regional straps, according to promoter reporting. The administrative status of those regional belts after Torrez’s May 23, 2026 loss is not explicitly documented in the sanctioning bodies’ public listings in the researched sources. Torrez’s first professional defeat came on May 23, 2026, when he was stopped in the second round by Frank Sánchez at the Glory in Giza card. That bout was promoted as an IBF heavyweight final/semifinal eliminator rather than a world-title fight. Despite the setback, Torrez remains an active figure in the heavyweight division with a record of 14–1 (12 stoppages), a collection of regional titles won and defended on the record, and the southpaw tools and resume that have kept him in contention at regional level. Note: some early stoppage designations are variably reported as KO or TKO across sources; promoter and commission reporting were used where available.