Richard Torrez Jr. (born June 1, 1999) is an American professional boxer. As an amateur, Torrez qualified to represent the United States at the

2020 Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

where he won a silver medal. As a professional, as of October 14, 2023, he is 8–0 with 8 knockouts.

Early life and education

Torrez graduated from Palo Verde Elementary School in 2013. He competed on the chess team for

Mission Oak High School Mission Oak High School is a public high school in Tulare, California. Along with Tulare Union High School and Tulare Western High School, it is part of the Tulare Joint Union High School District. History Mission Oak opened in August 2008. Th ...

, where he graduated as valedictorian in 2017. Torrez and his friends in the school's robotics club were nearly suspended for trying to develop more efficient rocket fuel. "At high school, I think what surprised me most is I liked hanging out with the nerds more than I liked hanging out with the athletes," he said. Citing how

Vasyl Lomachenko Vasyl Anatoliyovych Lomachenko ( uk, Василь Анатолійович Ломаченко, ; also spelled Vasiliy; born 17 February 1988) is a Ukrainian professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in three weight classes f ...

learned dance to improve his boxing footwork, Torrez began studying ballet at the

College of the Sequoias College of the Sequoias (COS) is a public two-year community college in Visalia, California. The college is named for the Giant Sequoia trees native to the nearby Sierra Nevada mountain range. History College of the Sequoias was originally esta ...

. He fell in love with it, and eventually played the part of Gaston in a production of ''

Beauty and the Beast ''Beauty and the Beast'' (french: La Belle et la Bête) is a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in ''La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins'' (''The Young American and Marine T ...

,'' an experience he found more terrifying than the Olympics.

Amateur career

He won a bronze medal at the

2019 Pan American Games The 2019 Pan American Games ( es, Juegos Panamericanos de 2019, links=no), officially the XVIII Pan American Games and commonly known as the Lima 2019 Pan-Am Games or Lima 2019 ( qu, Limaq 2019), were a multi-sport event governed by the Panam Spo ...

Super Heavyweight Super heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and competitive bodybuilding. Boxing In amateur boxing, the super heavyweight division is a weight class division for fighters weighing in excess of 91 kilograms (200 pounds). Introduced for ...

and placed 5th at the

2019 AIBA World Boxing Championships The 2019 AIBA World Boxing Championships were held in Yekaterinburg, Russia from 9 to 21 September 2019. Weight classes have been adjusted to match those confirmed for the 2020 Olympic boxing tournament. Medal summary Medal table Medal event ...

in the same weight class. He won a silver medal at the 2020 Olympics, losing to a professional boxer

Bakhodir Jalolov Bakhodir Jalolov ( uz, Bahodir Jalolov) is an Uzbekistani professional boxer who won a bronze medal at the 2015 World Championships, and gold at the 2019 World Championships and 2020 Summer Olympics. He also competed at the 2016 Summer Olympi ...

in the final.

Professional boxing record

Personal life

Torrez Jr. represents the third generation of a boxing family from

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; es, Valle de San Joaquín) is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies south of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the San Joaquin River. It comprises seven ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

. His great-grandfather, Juan Torrez, emigrated from

Fresnillo Fresnillo (/fres'nijo/), founded in 1554 by Francisco de Ibarra, is the second largest city in Zacatecas state, north central Mexico and the seat of Fresnillo municipality. As a rail and highway junction, Fresnillo is the center of a rich mining ...

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

in 1920. His grandfather Manuel Torrez, was a southwest (USA) Golden Gloves champion and his father and coach Richard Torrez Sr. reached the quarterfinals in the U.S. Trials for the

1984 Olympics The 1984 Olympics may refer to: *The 1984 Winter Olympics, which were held in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia *The 1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an intern ...

. In his spare time, Torrez Jr. enjoys building rockets with his friends from high school.

References

External links

Profile for Richard Torrez Jr.
from Team USA * {{DEFAULTSORT:Torrez, Richard 1999 births Living people Boxers at the 2019 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States in boxing American male boxers American boxers of Mexican descent Boxers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the United States in boxing Olympic boxers for the United States Boxers from California