By: Jaime Castro-Núñez: Currently focused on his future as a boxer and already training for a probable third defense on February 16, 2008 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand, twenty-seven-year-old Ricardo Torres put away for a minute the punching bag in order to answer my questions. The Light Welterweight champion is quite serious about making a better boxer of himself, even at this time of the year when everybody wants to rest and eat. But Torres has an especial motivation: he will be turning twenty-eight the same day of the bout and he believes this is a marvelous opportunity to celebrate with his fans in the United States.
Jaime Castro-Núñez: Ricardo, many thanks for granting me this interview and welcome to boxing247.com
Ricardo Torres: It is a great pleasure for me talking to you and to my admirers through this important, well-known website..
JCN: Let’s start from the very beginning. What can you tell us about your amateur career?
RT: I had a very successful amateur career. I was a six-time national champ in each category, so I consider it was excellent. Due to that success, I was selected to be a part of the Colombian Team in the late nineties. I won the Silver medal in Ecuador and in the Julio Gerlein Comelín Tournament. I was declared Colombia’s best aficionado several times.
JCN: Before preparing my questions for this interview, I did a little research about you and I learned that back in the nineties Colombian boxing experts predicted that you would be a world champion, but you were totally unknown until that September night in which you almost defeat Miguel Cotto. What did you learn from that fight?
RT: I did learn a lot of things from that fight. I got experience and I understood that I can’t be in a rush when fighting. I could knock Cotto out, but I didn’t time myself and I become desperate. I learn that I have to be in excellent conditions for every single fight. But it was a combat that opened the international doors.
JCN: When you challenged Cotto, boxing experts thought that the champion was having an easy night, but so far you have been Cotto´s toughest opponent. I’m not trying to imply anything here, but not even great Mosley shook him as you did. Any thought or comment on this?
R.T: It’s true that I was very close to defeat him. He felt my fists, the power of Mochuelo, but I was hungry, desperate, and that was my mistake. I rushed when I had to finish him off and I ran out of gas. I hope to see him again, maybe in the 147 pounds and I think it will be a different story.
JCN: You lost that fight, but soon you got a second chance and you took advantage of it by defeating Mike Arnaoutis. People were expecting the Mochuelo they saw against Cotto, but you kinda disappointed them. What do you remember of that fight?
RT: I remember that I trained very hard, but I didn’t look as impressive as I wanted. I apologized in the press conference because it wasn’t my best presentation, but what matters is that I won and now I am the champion.
JCN: How did your life change since the night in which you became champion of the world?
RT: My life is one before the championship and another one after that. It changed my life for good and now I can help my family, my parents and my siblings. We are twelve kids and the economical conditions are totally different. But I haven’t changed as a person. In my native town of Magangué I enjoy and talk with my childhood friends. And the same thing here in Barranquilla, where I live and train…this is like a second home for me.
JCN: Arturo Morúa and Kendall Holt are history. Now you are preparing for a probable fight next February 16 in Las Vegas at the MGM. Do you know who the rival is?
R.T: No, no. I don’t know my rival yet, but be sure that in the following days my manager Billy Chams will release his name.
JCN: What are you working on right now?
RT: I already have a training plan designed by my corner man Orlando Pineda. We started to train slowly, but steady.
JCN: Whom would you like to fight in the near future?
RT: In the future I would like to face José Luis Castillo, he is both experienced and good. Up in the 147 pounds, I would love to fight the big names in the category, such as Cotto, Mayweater, and Hatton.
JCN: Ricardo, I wish you the best of luck not only for the fight in February, but also for the rest of your career. God bless you!
RT: Thanks to you Jaime for your time and support and many thanks to ESB. I also want to send a warm hug to the followers of Mochuelo Torres in the United States and around the world. Let my followers know that I have a special surprise for them.
Acknowledgment:
I would like to thank Mr. Billy Chams and Jhon Romero of Cuadrilátero for making this interview possible.