Unbeaten heavyweight Richard Torrez Jr (8-0, 8KOs) continued his impressive start to professional life last weekend with an eighth-round stoppage of Curtis Harper, on the undercard of Rafael Espinoza's world title win over Robeisy Ramirez on Saturday in Florida.
Torrez Jr., who won silver at the delayed Tokyo 2020 edition of the games and is currently handled by Top Rank promotionally, has made an early call out of his career on who he seeks to fight moving forward into the new year.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Torrez Jr challenged fellow Olympic silver medalist and former British, Commonwealth and WBO interim heavyweight champion Joe Joyce (15-2, 14KOs).
"I definitely would love that boxing match to be able to happen one day, if not next year,” Torrez said, referencing a sparring session from when he was 17 as to why there is ill will toward the Brit.
“I was 17, and there’s some animosity, at least on my end, from that sparring session," he said.
“Some people hear the bell, and some people don’t. I can’t speak for the guy and who he is as a person. I just know from my experience of what happened with me, I do harbour a little bit of just wanting to be able to fight him in the pros.
“If I could have one fight, I would like to fight him.”
Following an impressive 2022, which included a stoppage victory over former world champion Joseph Parker, Joyce suffered back-to-back stoppage defeats to Zhilei Zhang in 2023 in six and three rounds during April and September, respectively.
Joyce’s future in the sport is currently unclear.
