José Torres

This article is about Puerto Rican boxer. For other uses, see José Torres (disambiguation).

José "Chegüi" Torres
Statistics
Real name	José Torres
Nickname(s)	Chegüi
Rated at	Light heavyweight
Nationality	Puerto Rico
Born	May 3, 1936(1936-05-03) Ponce, Puerto Rico
Died	January 19, 2009(2009-01-19) (aged 72) Ponce, Puerto Rico
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	45
Wins	41
Wins by KO	29
Losses	3
Draws	1
No contests	0
Medal record Men's Boxing Competitor for  United States Silver 1956 Melbourne Light Middleweight

External audio
	You may hear José "Chegüi" Torres vs Willie Pastrano here

José ("Chegüi") 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.

Amateur career

Born in the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico, Torres began boxing when he joined the U.S. Army as a teenager (he was 18 years old).^[1] 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.^[2]

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.

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 Juan 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.

An active retirement

Jose "Cheqüi" Torres

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.

Author

Torres regularly contributed a column for El Diario La Prensa, 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.^[3] 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). ^[4]

Later Years

In 2007, Torres announced his decision to move back to his hometown of Ponce, Puerto Rico and concentrate on writing books and articles related to sports and history. On August 6, 2008, Torres received a recognition for his military career.^[5] Torres died in the morning of January 19, 2009, of a heart attack at his home in Ponce, Puerto Rico.^[6][7] There are plans to move his remains to the Panteón Nacional Román Baldorioty de Castro, a national pantheon and museum.^[8]

Professional championships

Preceded by Willie Pastrano	World Boxing Council Light Heavyweight Champion 30 March 1965–16 December 1966	Succeeded by Dick Tiger
Preceded by Willie Pastrano	World Boxing Association Light Heavyweight Champion 30 March 1965–16 December 1966	Succeeded by Dick Tiger

See also

Puerto Rico portal

• List of famous Puerto Ricans
• Spanish Golden Gloves
• List of Puerto Rican boxing world champions

References

1. ^ Associated Press
2. ^ Olympic Sports
3. ^ "Induction Weekend: The Class of '97". International Boxing Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 2008-04-25. http://web.archive.org/web/20080425030859/http://www.ibhof.com/97cerem.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-22. 
4. ^ Boxing Champion And Author. The Washington Post
5. ^ "Reconocimiento a "Cheguí" Torres" (in Spanish). Primera Hora. 2008-08-07. http://www.primerahora.com/noticia/otros_accion/accion_deportiva/reconocimiento_a_chegui_torres/217659. Retrieved 2008-08-11. ^{[dead link]}
6. ^ Herald Tribune
7. ^ Boxing Champion And Author. The Washington Post
8. ^ Juan Alindato y Chegüi Torres al Panteon Nacional Roman Baldorioty de Castro, nuestro cementerio museo. Periodico "La Voz de la Playa de Ponce", Edicion 131, October 2010. Page 2.

External links

• Professional boxing record for José Torres from BoxRec

Persondata
Name	Torres, Jose
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1936-05-03
Place of birth	Ponce, Puerto Rico
Date of death	2009-01-19
Place of death	Ponce, Puerto Rico