The heavyweight division’s fastest-rising prospect looks to close out 2023 in crushing fashion.
Olympic super heavyweight silver medalist Richard Torrez Jr. (7-0, 7 KOs) will test himself against Curtis Harper (14-10, 9 KOs) on Saturday, December 9 at Charles F. Dodge City Center in Pembroke Pines, Florida. This will be the first scheduled eight-rounder for Torrez, who has ended all seven of his professional outings in three rounds or less. Harper is best known for walking out of the ring prior to a fight with Efe Ajagba, but otherwise has proven to be a credible journeyman.
Torrez-Harper will stream LIVE & exclusively in the U.S. on ESPN+ before the ESPN-televised doubleheader (10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT) featuring Robeisy Ramirez’s WBO featherweight world title defense against Rafael “El Divino” Espinoza and undefeated junior middleweight sensation Xander Zayas versus Spain’s Jorge Fortea.
Torrez seems like a good kid and i like his story. That being said, this is not much of a threat. He only has seven fights but he has good amateur pedigree. He needs to step up the competition.
I don’t think Torrez has any problems in this fight but, at least on paper, Curtis Harper actually represents a pretty sizable step-up in competition for him at this point; which says a bit about the guys he’s been in with so far.
Really like Torrez, but he is going to go much the same way as Babić. Tremendous pace he fights at, big heart, but hardly no defense as he throws his barrage of punches. Hope he somehow is able to make it up high up the rankings and good paydays along the way.