José Louis "Chegüi" Torres (May 3, 1936 – January 19, 2009) was a Puerto Rican-born

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

who fought representing the United States. As an

amateur boxer An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, self-taught, user-generated, DIY, and hobbyist. History ...

, he won a silver medal in the middleweight division at the 1956 Olympic Games in

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. In 1965, he defeated Willie Pastrano to win the WBC, WBA, and lineal light-heavyweight championships. Torres trained with the legendary boxing trainer

Cus D'Amato Constantine "''Cus''" D'Amato (January 17, 1908 – November 4, 1985) was an American boxing manager, boxing Promoter (entertainment), promoter and boxing Boxing training, trainer who handled the careers of Mike Tyson, Floyd Patterson, and José ...

. In 1997, he was inducted into the

International Boxing Hall of Fame The International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF), located in Canastota, New York, right next to exit 34 of the New York State Thruway, honors boxers, trainers and other contributors to the sport worldwide. Inductees are selected on ballots cre ...

Amateur career

Born in the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico, Torres began boxing when he joined the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

as a teenager (he was 17 years old). 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, losing to László Papp of Hungary in the final. Torres trained at the Empire Sporting Club in New York City with trainer

. He was the 1958 National AAU Middleweight Champion and also won the 1958

New York Golden Gloves The New York Golden Gloves is an amateur boxing tournament. It has long been considered by many boxing aficionados as one of the most elite Golden Gloves titles, along with the Chicago Golden Gloves. Named for the small golden Boxing glove, gloves ...

160 lb Open Championship.

Professional career

He professionally debuted 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). Afterward, he made his

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John (disambiguation), Saint John, most commonly refers to: * San Juan, Puerto Rico * San Juan, Argentina * San Juan, Metro Manila, a highly urbanized city in the Philippines San Juan may also refer to: Places Arge ...

debut against

Benny Paret Bernardo Paret (March 14, 1937 – April 3, 1962), known as Benny Paret or Benny "Kid" Paret, was a Cuban welterweight boxer who won the Undisputed World Welterweight Championship twice in the early 1960s. Paret's death occurred 10 days af ...

, a future world welterweight champion from Cuba, in which Torres and Paret fought to a ten-round draw. 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 Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

'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. 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 New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. 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 ("Bobo") Olson, who was taken out in one round. After this, Torres was ranked number one among Light-Heavyweight challengers. His title shot arrived in 1965 at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

. Torres defeated the

International Boxing Hall Of Fame The International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF), located in Canastota, New York, right next to exit 34 of the New York State Thruway, honors boxers, trainers and other contributors to the sport worldwide. Inductees are selected on ballots cre ...

member and World Light Heavyweight champion Willie Pastrano. In doing so, 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 Michael Gerard Tyson (born June 30, 1966) is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1985 and 2024. Nicknamed "Iron Mike" and "Kid Dynamite" in his early career, and later known as "the Baddest Man on the Planet", Tyson i ...

rival,

Peter McNeeley Peter McNeeley (born 6 October 1968) is an American former heavyweight boxer best known for his 1995 fight with Mike Tyson, Tyson’s first fight after being released from prison. McNeeley was disqualified after his manager Vinnie Vecchione s ...

) 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, with Torres losing a 15-round decision again. Many fans thought he should have won it that time, and as a consequence, a large riot followed the fight. After his second defeat to Tiger, Torres only fought twice more (against Bob Dunlop in 1968 and Charley "Devil" Green in 1969), retiring after 1969.

An active retirement

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 The New York State Athletic Commission or NYSAC, also known as the New York Athletic Commission, is a division of the New York State Department of State which regulates all contests and exhibitions of unarmed combat within the state of New York ...

'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 Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Atlantic City comprises the second half of the Atlantic City- Hammonton metropolitan sta ...

, New Jersey. In 1990, he became President of the

WBO The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxin ...

until 1995. He was also a member of the

Author

Torres regularly contributed a column to the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...

'' (which he obtained with the help of his friend,

Pete Hamill William Peter Hamill (June 24, 1935August 5, 2020) was an American journalist, novelist, essayist and editor. During his career as a New York City journalist, he was described as "the author of columns that sought to capture the particular flavo ...

), as well as to ''

El Diario La Prensa ''El Diario Nueva York'' is the largest and the oldest Spanish-language daily newspaper in the United States. Published by ImpreMedia, the paper covers local, national and international news with an emphasis on Latin America, as well as human-i ...

'', a

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newspaper in New York City. He also wrote for

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

. In 1971, he co-authored ''Sting Like a Bee'', a biography of

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and social activist. A global cultural icon, widely known by the nickname "The Greatest", he is often regarded as the gr ...

. In 1989, he wrote the

biography ''Fire and Fear: The Inside Story of Mike Tyson'' (which would be adapted into the 1995-

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

television movie, '' Tyson'').

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.

Death and legacy

Torres died in the morning of January 19, 2009, of a heart attack at his home in Ponce. There are plans to move his remains to the Panteón Nacional Román Baldorioty de Castro, a national pantheon (and cemetery) and museum, in Ponce, Puerto Rico. He is also recognized at Ponce's Parque de los Ponceños Ilustres in the area of sports.''Sports''.
TravelPonce.com Retrieved April 18, 2013. During his life, Torres was the subject of two documentaries by famed Japanese film director,

Hiroshi Teshigahara was a Japanese avant-garde filmmaker and artist from the Japanese New Wave era. He is best known for the 1964 film ''Woman in the Dunes''. He is also known for directing other titles such as '' The Face of Another'' (1966), ''Natsu no Heitai'' ...

Professional boxing record

Titles in boxing

Major world titles

* WBA light heavyweight champion (175 lbs) * WBC light heavyweight champion (175 lbs)

''The Ring'' magazine titles

* ''The Ring'' light heavyweight champion (175 lbs)

Regional/International titles

* Puerto Rican

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have beg ...

champion (160 lbs)

Undisputed titles

* Undisputed light heavyweight champion

References

External links

*
José Torres - CBZ Profile
* , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Torres, José 1936 births 2009 deaths Puerto Rican male boxers Sportspeople from Ponce, Puerto Rico Burials at Panteón Nacional Román Baldorioty de Castro New York state athletic commissioners Puerto Rican Army personnel Puerto Rican boxers Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the United States in boxing Olympic boxers for the United States Boxers at the 1956 Summer Olympics International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees Winners of the United States Championship for amateur boxers Light-heavyweight boxers United States Army soldiers World light-heavyweight boxing champions World Boxing Association champions World Boxing Council champions The Ring (magazine) champions 20th-century American sportsmen