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First Pro Fight For Torres Is Saturday

Antonio “El Bravo” Torres Jr.

Antonio “El Bravo” Torres Jr. will step into the ring for the first time as a professional boxer this Saturday.

The Jamestown YMCA Youth Boxing Program fighter is slated to take on Wesley Melvin of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida in a heavyweight bout at the Brand Point Conference Center in Parkersburg, West Virginia.

Like so many other things, training for his professional debut has been difficult for Torres, with the Jamestown YMCA boxing program still shuttered due to COVID-19 regulations.

Private training sessions and time spent on the bag at home have been the name of the game as of late.

“We were hoping to have more preparations but there haven’t been fights in New York because of COVID,” YMCA Boxing Program coach Chip Swanson said.

“He fought a few months ago in West Virginia in a pro-am. You can’t have those in New York right now but you can in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. (Torres) knocked his guy out in the first round.”

Torres is managed by BLee Management, and coached by Swanson in addition to his father Antonio Torres Sr. and Joe Ortiz.

As an amateur, he held a record of 14-2 including two New York Golden Gloves titles.

While Swanson thought at one point that Torres would make his professional debut at a lighter weight, he has continued to gain size naturally on his way up to heavyweight.

Power has been coming along for the ride.

“He’s weighing about 255 right now. He’s an extremely hard hitter, he just bangs and has the power,” Swanson said. “Every fight he just hits harder it seems like. I haven’t see anybody be able to stand against him for a while now. His conditioning has been good and his mechanics are awesome.”

In addition to the growth of his power, Torres is equally comfortable in orthodox and southpaw stances.

“He switches very smooth and confuses his opponents. He is ambidextrous and very smooth with it,” Swanson said.

The fight card will be broadcast starting at 7 p.m. and will be available on pay-per-view at F55live.com.

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