José Torres
Encyclopedia
José Torres (May 3, 1936 – January 19, 2009), was a Puerto Rican
professional boxer
. As an amateur boxer, he won a silver medal in the junior middleweight at the 1956 Olympic Games
in Melbourne
. In 1965, he defeated Willie Pastrano
to win the WBC
and WBA
light heavyweight championships. In 1997, he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame
.
, Torres began boxing when he joined the U.S. Army as a teenager (he was 18 years old). His only amateur titles had come in Army and Inter-Service championships, several of which he had won. Torres was still in the Army when he won the Silver Medal in the light middleweight division at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games
, where he lost to László Papp
of Hungary in the final.
Torres trained at the Empire Sporting Club in New York City.
He was the 1958 National AAU Middleweight Champion and also won the 1958 New York Golden Gloves
160 lb Open Championship.
debut against Benny Paret
, a world welterweight and Middleweight champion whose death after a fight would later on become one of the turning points in the history of boxing
. Torres and Paret fought to a ten round draw, and in 1960, Torres went back to campaigning in New York, where he scored three wins that year, all by decision, including two over Randy Sandy.
In 1961, Torres made his hometown debut with a four round knockout win in a rematch with Hamilton at Ponce. He had six more fights that year, winning all of them by knockout.
Torres kept his knockout streak alive through 1962 with three more knockout wins but, in 1963, he suffered his first loss, being stopped in five by Cuba
's Florentino Fernández
, the only boxer ever to beat Torres by a knockout as a professional. After that setback, Torres went back to training and had one more fight that year, and that time around, he was able to beat another top contender in Don Fullmer
, Gene Fullmer
's brother, with a ten round decision win in New Jersey
.
In 1964, Torres beat a group of name boxers, including Jose Gonzalez
, Walker Simmons (twice), Frankie Olivera, Gomeo Brennan and former world Middleweight champion Carl Olson (Bobo), taken out in one round. After this, Torres was ranked number 1 among Light Heavyweight challengers, and his title shot would soon arrive.
In happened in 1965 at Madison Square Garden
. Torres defeated the International Boxing Hall Of Fame
member, and world Light Heavyweight champion Willie Pastrano
. In so doing, Torres became the third Puerto Rican world boxing champion in history and the first Latin American
to win the world Light Heavyweight title, knocking Pastrano out in round nine. Later that year, he fought a non-title bout versus Tom McNeeley
(father of former Mike Tyson
rival Peter McNeeley
) in San Juan, winning a ten round decision.
In 1966, he successfully defended his crown three times, with 15 round decisions over Wayne Thornton and Eddie Cotton
and a two round knockout of Chic Calderwood
. In his next defense, however, he would lose it to another Hall Of Fame member, Nigeria
's Dick Tiger
, by a decision in 15 rounds.
In 1967, he and Tiger had a rematch, and Torres lost a 15 round decision again. Many fans thought he should have won it that time, and as a consequence, a large scale riot followed the fight, with many New York City policemen called to the Garden arena to try to calm down the fans.
After his second defeat to Tiger, Torres only fought twice more, retiring after 1969.
In his years after retiring from boxing, he became a representative of the Puerto Rican community in New York, meeting political leaders, giving lectures and becoming the New York State Athletic Commission
's Commissioner from 1984 to 1988. In 1986, he was chosen to sing the United States National Anthem before the world Lightweight championship bout between Jimmy Paul
and Irleis Perez in Atlantic City, New Jersey. In 1990 he became President of the WBO
, and he was President until 1995. He was also a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame
.
, a Spanish language
newspaper in New York City. He also wrote for The Village Voice
. In 1971 he co-authored Sting Like a Bee, a biography of Muhammad Ali
. In 1989, he wrote the Mike Tyson
biography Fire and Fear: The Inside Story of Mike Tyson (which would be adapted into the 1995 HBO television movie Tyson
).
and concentrate on writing books and articles related to sports and history. On August 6, 2008, Torres received a recognition for his military career. Torres died in the morning of January 19, 2009, of a heart attack at his home in Ponce, Puerto Rico. There are plans to move his remains to the Panteón Nacional Román Baldorioty de Castro
, a national pantheon and museum.
Puerto Rican people
A Puerto Rican is a person who was born in Puerto Rico.Puerto Ricans born and raised in the continental United States are also sometimes referred to as Puerto Ricans, although they were not born in Puerto Rico...
professional boxer
Professional Boxing
Professional boxing, or prizefighting, emerged in the early twentieth century as boxing gradually attained legitimacy and became a regulated, sanctioned sport. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse which is divided among the fighters and promoters as determined by contract...
. As an amateur boxer, he won a silver medal in the junior middleweight at the 1956 Olympic Games
1956 Summer Olympics
The 1956 Melbourne Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was held in Melbourne, Australia, in 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, which could not be held in Australia due to quarantine regulations...
in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
. In 1965, he defeated Willie Pastrano
Willie Pastrano
Wilfred Raleigh Pastrano was a light heavyweight boxer who held the world crown from 1963 until 1965.-Early life:...
to win the WBC
World Boxing Council
The World Boxing Council was initially established by 11 countries: the United States, Argentina, United Kingdom, France, Mexico, Philippines, Panama, Chile, Peru, Venezuela and Brazil plus Puerto Rico, met in Mexico City on February 14, 1963, upon invitation of the then President of Mexico, Adolfo...
and WBA
World Boxing Association
The World Boxing Association is a boxing organization that sanctions official matches, and awards the WBA world championship title at the professional level. It was previously known as the National Boxing Association before changing its name in 1962...
light heavyweight championships. In 1997, he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame
International Boxing Hall of Fame
The modern International Boxing Hall of Fame is located in Canastota, New York, United States, within driving distance from the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown and the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta...
.
Amateur career
Born in the city of Ponce, Puerto RicoPonce, Puerto Rico
Ponce is both a city and a municipality in the southern part of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government.The city of Ponce, the fourth most populated in Puerto Rico, and the most populated outside of the San Juan metropolitan area, is named for Juan Ponce de León y Loayza, the...
, Torres began boxing when he joined the U.S. Army as a teenager (he was 18 years old). His only amateur titles had come in Army and Inter-Service championships, several of which he had won. Torres was still in the Army when he won the Silver Medal in the light middleweight division at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games
Boxing at the 1956 Summer Olympics
Boxing at the 1956 Summer Olympics took place in the new stadium at West Melbourne. A total number of 164 competitors entered from 35 nations, of whom 161 from 34 nations weighed-in and boxing was held eight nights and five afternoons. The boxing schedule began on November 23 and ended on December 1...
, where he lost to László Papp
László Papp
László Papp was a Hungarian boxer, born in Budapest. A southpaw, he won gold medals in the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, and the 1956 Summer Olympics held in Melbourne, Australia...
of Hungary in the final.
Torres trained at the Empire Sporting Club in New York City.
He was the 1958 National AAU Middleweight Champion and also won the 1958 New York Golden Gloves
New York Golden Gloves
The New York Golden Gloves is a boxing tournament considered by many boxing aficionados as one of the three most elite Golden Gloves titles, along with the Chicago Golden Gloves....
160 lb Open Championship.
Professional career
He debuted as a professional in 1958 with a first round knockout of George Hamilton in New York. Twelve wins in a row followed, ten of them by knockout (including wins over contenders Ike Jenkins and Al Andrews), after which he was able to make his San JuanSan Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...
debut against Benny Paret
Benny Paret
Benny "the Kid" Paret, born Bernardo Paret , born in Santa Clara, Cuba, was a Cuban welterweight boxer. Paret won the world welterweight title twice in the early 1960s and died in 1962 following an unsuccessful attempt to defend the crown in what is considered to be the first ring death witnessed...
, a world welterweight and Middleweight champion whose death after a fight would later on become one of the turning points in the history of boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
. Torres and Paret fought to a ten round draw, and in 1960, Torres went back to campaigning in New York, where he scored three wins that year, all by decision, including two over Randy Sandy.
In 1961, Torres made his hometown debut with a four round knockout win in a rematch with Hamilton at Ponce. He had six more fights that year, winning all of them by knockout.
Torres kept his knockout streak alive through 1962 with three more knockout wins but, in 1963, he suffered his first loss, being stopped in five by Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
's Florentino Fernández
Florentino Fernández
Florentino Fernández Román, Flo, is a Spanish actor, comedian, conductor and showman.He worked as a security guard before taking part in TV shows like Esta noche cruzamos el Mississippi or La sonrisa del pelícano with Pepe Navarro, where he impersonated Chiquito de la Calzada and created new...
, the only boxer ever to beat Torres by a knockout as a professional. After that setback, Torres went back to training and had one more fight that year, and that time around, he was able to beat another top contender in Don Fullmer
Don Fullmer
Don Fullmer is a former boxer and brother of former world middleweight champion Gene Fullmer.Eight years younger than his more famous brother, Don followed Gene into the gym in West Jordan, Utah, to learn how to box. He fought as an amateur for four years and did not lose in sixty-five fights...
, Gene Fullmer
Gene Fullmer
Gene Fullmer is a former American middleweight boxer and world champion.-Professional career:Fullmer began his professional career in 1951 and won his first 29 fights, 19 by knockout...
's brother, with a ten round decision win in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
.
In 1964, Torres beat a group of name boxers, including Jose Gonzalez
José González
José González is a Swedish-Argentine indie folk singer-songwriter and guitarist from Gothenburg, Sweden.González is also a member of Swedish band Junip, along with Elias Araya and Tobias Winterkorn.- Biography :...
, Walker Simmons (twice), Frankie Olivera, Gomeo Brennan and former world Middleweight champion Carl Olson (Bobo), taken out in one round. After this, Torres was ranked number 1 among Light Heavyweight challengers, and his title shot would soon arrive.
In happened in 1965 at Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
. Torres defeated the International Boxing Hall Of Fame
International Boxing Hall of Fame
The modern International Boxing Hall of Fame is located in Canastota, New York, United States, within driving distance from the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown and the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta...
member, and world Light Heavyweight champion Willie Pastrano
Willie Pastrano
Wilfred Raleigh Pastrano was a light heavyweight boxer who held the world crown from 1963 until 1965.-Early life:...
. In so doing, Torres became the third Puerto Rican world boxing champion in history and the first Latin American
Latin Americans
Latin Americans are the citizens of the Latin American countries and dependencies. Latin American countries are multi-ethnic, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds. As a result, some Latin Americans don't take their nationality as an ethnicity, but identify themselves with...
to win the world Light Heavyweight title, knocking Pastrano out in round nine. Later that year, he fought a non-title bout versus Tom McNeeley
Tom McNeeley
Thomas William McNeeley, Jr. was a heavyweight boxer in the 1950s and 1960s. He hailed from Arlington, Massachusetts, and played football for Michigan State University...
(father of former Mike Tyson
Mike Tyson
Michael Gerard "Mike" Tyson is a retired American boxer. Tyson is a former undisputed heavyweight champion of the world and holds the record as the youngest boxer to win the WBC, WBA and IBF world heavyweight titles, he was 20 years, 4 months and 22 days old...
rival Peter McNeeley
Peter McNeeley
"Hurricane" Peter McNeeley is a former heavyweight boxer, best known for his 1995 fight with Mike Tyson in which McNeeley had famously vowed to wrap Tyson in a "cocoon of horror." McNeeley fought aggressively and was knocked down twice within the first two minutes as a result...
) in San Juan, winning a ten round decision.
In 1966, he successfully defended his crown three times, with 15 round decisions over Wayne Thornton and Eddie Cotton
Eddie Cotton
Eddie Cotton was a former boxer. Cotton was a resident of Seattle, Washington until his death on June 25, 1990 following a second liver transplant.- Career :...
and a two round knockout of Chic Calderwood
Chic Calderwood
Chic Calderwood was a Scottish light-heavyweight boxer from Craigneuk in North Lanarkshire, Scotland who was active from 1957 to 1966. He was 6 ft 3ins tall and had a venomous punch, winning many of his fights by knockouts...
. In his next defense, however, he would lose it to another Hall Of Fame member, Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
's Dick Tiger
Dick Tiger
Dick Tiger CBE was a boxer from Ubahu village, Amaigbo, Nigeria, who emigrated to Liverpool and later to the United States of America. Tiger was a member of the Igbo ethnic group...
, by a decision in 15 rounds.
In 1967, he and Tiger had a rematch, and Torres lost a 15 round decision again. Many fans thought he should have won it that time, and as a consequence, a large scale riot followed the fight, with many New York City policemen called to the Garden arena to try to calm down the fans.
After his second defeat to Tiger, Torres only fought twice more, retiring after 1969.
An active retirement
New York State Athletic Commission
The New York State Athletic Commission or NYSAC, also known as the New York Athletic Commission, regulates all contests and exhibitions of unarmed combat within the state of New York, including licensure and supervision of promoters, boxers, professional wrestlers, seconds, ring officials,...
's Commissioner from 1984 to 1988. In 1986, he was chosen to sing the United States National Anthem before the world Lightweight championship bout between Jimmy Paul
Jimmy Paul
Jimmy Paul was an American boxer in the lightweight division. On April 6, 1985 he beat Harry Arroyo to become the IBF Lightweight Champion. Paul successfully defended the title four times. On December 6, 1986 Paul lost the title to Greg Haugen. Paul retired in 1999 with a professional record of...
and Irleis Perez in Atlantic City, New Jersey. In 1990 he became President of the WBO
World Boxing Organization
The World Boxing Organization is a sanctioning organization currently recognizing professional boxing world champions. The organization is recognized as one of the four major world championship groups by the IBHOF alongside the International Boxing Federation, the World Boxing Council and the...
, and he was President until 1995. He was also a member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame
International Boxing Hall of Fame
The modern International Boxing Hall of Fame is located in Canastota, New York, United States, within driving distance from the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown and the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta...
.
Author
Torres regularly contributed a column for El Diario La PrensaEl Diario La Prensa
El Diario la Prensa is the largest and oldest Spanish-language daily newspaper in New York City, and the oldest Spanish-language daily in the United States. Published by ImpreMedia, the paper covers local, national and international news with an emphasis on Latin America, as well as human-interest...
, a Spanish language
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
newspaper in New York City. He also wrote for The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
. In 1971 he co-authored Sting Like a Bee, a biography of Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...
. In 1989, he wrote the Mike Tyson
Mike Tyson
Michael Gerard "Mike" Tyson is a retired American boxer. Tyson is a former undisputed heavyweight champion of the world and holds the record as the youngest boxer to win the WBC, WBA and IBF world heavyweight titles, he was 20 years, 4 months and 22 days old...
biography Fire and Fear: The Inside Story of Mike Tyson (which would be adapted into the 1995 HBO television movie Tyson
Tyson (1995 film)
Tyson is a 1995 television film based on the life of American heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson. Directed by Uli Edel, it is an adaptation of the 1987 book Fire and Fear: The Inside Story of Mike Tyson by José Torres, former boxer and former chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission...
).
Later Years
In 2007, Torres announced his decision to move back to his hometown of Ponce, Puerto RicoPonce, Puerto Rico
Ponce is both a city and a municipality in the southern part of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government.The city of Ponce, the fourth most populated in Puerto Rico, and the most populated outside of the San Juan metropolitan area, is named for Juan Ponce de León y Loayza, the...
and concentrate on writing books and articles related to sports and history. On August 6, 2008, Torres received a recognition for his military career. Torres died in the morning of January 19, 2009, of a heart attack at his home in Ponce, Puerto Rico. There are plans to move his remains to the Panteón Nacional Román Baldorioty de Castro
Panteón Nacional Román Baldorioty de Castro
The Panteón Nacional Román Baldorioty de Castro is a tract of land in Barrio Segundo of the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico, originally designed as the city's cemetery, but later converted into what has come to be a famous burial place. Established in 1842, it is Puerto Rico's first national pantheon...
, a national pantheon and museum.
Professional championships
See also
- List of famous Puerto Ricans
- Spanish Golden GlovesSpanish Golden GlovesThe Spanish Golden Gloves was a boxing tournament sponsored by El Diario La Prensa in the New York Metropolitan Area and sanctioned by the Amateur Athletic Union .Notable winners include:*Chris Eubank*Joe Cortez*José Torres*Kevin Kelley...
- List of Puerto Rican boxing world champions