Richard Torrez Jnr is back in the IBF heavyweight eliminator rotation.
Whether he and Top Rank accept the opportunity this time around is another matter entirely.
BoxingScene has confirmed that the unbeaten heavyweight is in a position to enter negotiations with Cuba’s Frank Sanchez for a final elimination contest. The matter comes just months after Torrez’s team was contacted by the sanctioning body to gauge interest, only to be met with silence as the budding contender was already scheduled for another fight.
Sanchez, 25-1 (18 KOs) has literally waited all year for this opportunity to see the light of day. Torrez, 14-0 (12 KOs) is one of at least five heavyweights who were in the mix at some point, only to ultimately decline to move forward with the process.
The latest step comes more than a week after former IBF heavyweight titlist Daniel Dubois, 22-3 (21 KOs) was withdrawn from the ordered match on the morning of a purse bid hearing. The session was already delayed by seven days at the request of Dubois and Queensberry Promotions, only to bail altogether.
Moses Itauma, Filip Hrgovic and Efe Ajagba – a former Sanchez opponent – have also declined to go the distance during these proceedings.
A rematch with Ajagba was actually set to move forward after Sampson Lewkowicz’s Sampson Boxing won a purse bid to secure promotional rights. However, the 2016 Nigerian Olympian was disappointed with his share of the purse and opted to bow out of their targeted rematch.
Sanchez previously defeated Ajagba by 10-round, unanimous decision in their October 2021 meeting of unbeaten heavyweights.
Fellow Top Rank heavyweight Jared Anderson was previously under consideration for the ordered eliminator. However, the IBF instead contacted Top Rank about Torrez, who is ranked one spot lower than Sanchez at number for in its current heavyweight ratings. Anderson is currently number six.
Torrez, a 2020 Olympic silver medalist for the U.S., is coming off a 1st round, injury stoppage of Poland’s Tomas Salek on November 15 in San Luis Potosi, Mexico.
The win was just his second of the year, the least active campaign for the 26-year-old southpaw from Tulare, California. Torrez fought four times each in 2022, 2023 and 2024. His 2025 run was limited to the abovementioned win over Salek and – in his lone fight to go to the scorecards and past eight rounds - a 10-round, unanimous decision over Guido Vianello on April 5 in Las Vegas.
Sanchez has not fought since a 3rd round knockout over made-to-order Ramon Echevierra on February 22 in Tijuana, Mexico.
The fight was his first since his 7th round knockout defeat to Agit Kabayel in their WBC interim heavyweight title clash last May 18 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Once the IBF is able to sort out this ongoing dilemma, the eventual winner will become the sanctioning body’s mandatory challenger to unified champ Oleksandr Usyk, 24-0 (15 KOs). Fabio Wardley was recently named the WBO full champion from his previous interim title status after Usyk declined to move forward with an ordered title consolidation match.
Usyk still holds the WBA “Super”, WBC and IBF belts. Kabayel remains the recognized WBC interim titlist, while Kubrat Pulev possesses a secondary version of the WBA title.
