Richard Torrez defeated Guido Vianello by unanimous decision in their 10-round heavyweight clash in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
The American heavyweight of tremendous promise – a silver medallist at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 – remains unbeaten as a result, passing arguably the toughest test to date of his 13 professional contests against fellow Olympian (Rio 2016) Vianello.
From the start, Torrez (13-0, 11 KOs) bull-rushed Vianello, swinging wildly with overhand lefts and right hooks. Vianello (13-3-1, 11 KOs) clinched him to avoid damage, so much so that he was deducted a point in the second round.
The Italian attempted to counter as Torrez continued forward, landing shots as he could, though taking the occasional punch on the way in.
Vianello connected with a chopping shot in the fifth round, but Torrez returned fire and stunted his momentum. The two went toe-to-toe in the eighth, with Torrez stunning his opponent in the ninth and controlling the final round.
All three judges scored the fight in favour of Torrez, two of them giving it to him 98-91 and the other marking it down as 97-92.
Torrez said after his victory: “I was trying to set up my feints and my body shots. Then, my body shots started landing more and more. From there, other shots started landing like my hooks. That was the plan that we had.
“He’s an Olympian. I give him all the credit. He’s a great fighter. I have nothing but respect for him, but Tulare, California, came out today.
“I don’t say no to fights. I want that to be clear. I want that to be known. Whoever you guys give me, I’m going to say yes to.”
In a battle of junior welterweight contenders on the undercard, Lindolfo Delgado (23-0, 16 KOs) maintained his unbeaten record with a razor-thin 10-round majority decision over Dominican puncher Elvis Rodriguez (17-2-1, 13 KOs). The scores – 95-95, 96-94, 96-94 – were indicative of a closely contested tilt that had ringside observers split.
Abdullah Mason (18-0, 16 KOs) celebrated his 21st birthday with a sixth-round TKO over Carlos Ornelas (28-5, 15 KOs) to capture the NABF and NABO lightweight titles.
Featherweight Albert “Chop Chop” Gonzalez (13-0, 7 KOs) earned a workmanlike unanimous decision over gritty Australian Dana Coolwell (13-4, 8 KOs), while Jahi Tucker (14-1-1, 6 KOs) tallied a dominant 10-round unanimous decision over former British junior middleweight champion Troy Williamson (20-4-1, 14 KOs).
