By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Journeyman Vernie Torres, the former Philippine, USBA and WBO Intercontinental super flyweight champion has lost his fourth fight in a row, this time to undefeated USBA super bantamweight champion Mike “Machine Gun” Oliver at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut in the co-main event of a fight card titled “Battle Zone 3.”
The 27 year Oliver who is rated No. 8 by the IBF dominated the fight before an accidental head-butt opened up a nasty cut on the forehead of Torres. At the time of the stoppage all three judges had Oliver ahead, Richard Flaherty and George DeGabriel had Oliver in front 79-72 while the third judge Glen Feldman had Oliver the winner 78-73.
Oliver, a southpaw improved to 19-0 with 7 knockouts while the 33 year old Torres dropped to 27-10 with 15 knockouts. Torres had earlier lost all his three fights last year by unanimous decisions.
At the height of his career Torres who fights out of Pensacola, Florida was regarded as an extremely talented fighter and won the USBA super flyweight title on November 8, 2003 with an impressive twelve round decision over Miguel del Valle and the WBO Intercontinental crown over Genaro Garcia in February 2000.
Oliver on the other hand won the USBA super bantamweight crown on October 28 last year with a unanimous twelve round decision over Adam Carrera and is coming off a close decision in a title defense against Gary Stark Jr on February 16 in Oklahoma.
