Nov 28, 2025, 05:21 PM ET<\/p>\n
Richard Torrez Jr. has got the call to fight Frank Sanchez and decide the mandatory challenger to Oleksandr Usyk.<\/p>\n
The IBF’s long search for a final eliminator to decide who will fight Usyk might have finally come to an end.<\/p>\n
United States Olympic silver medalist Torrez Jr. has got the nod by the IBF. There is no deal yet, but the next step is to negotiate a fight with Sanchez, sources told ESPN.<\/p>\n
Cuba’s Sanchez has accepted that he will fight Torrez Jr., sources told ESPN.<\/p>\n
Why was Richard Torrez Jr. picked?Richard Torrez Jr. (left) in line to fight Frank Sanchez.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n
Sanchez is ranked at No. 3 in the IBF heavyweight rankings, and Torrez Jr. is No. 4.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, when the IBF heavyweight championship was around the waist of Daniel Dubois, Derek Chisora was briefly in pole position for a shot at the gold.<\/p>\n
But Chisora was leapfrogged by Filip Hrgovic, the Croatian contender who impressed by beating Joe Joyce. Hrgovic and Sanchez had a chance to agree on a final eliminator to the IBF title but a fight never materialized.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the IBF title switched hands when Usyk knocked out Dubois in an undisputed championship fight.<\/p>\n
The IBF’s quest to put together a mandatory challenger fight led them to Moses Itauma. A statement read: “If he confirms he is available, then he and Frank Sanchez would be ordered to negotiate.”<\/p>\n
The opportunity also dangled in front of ex-champion Dubois who preferred not to limit his own chances by committing to a sole route back to the top.<\/p>\n
The latest opportunity sits with Torrez Jr. If he agrees a deal to fight Sanchez, the winner will be named mandatory challenger to the IBF heavyweight title which belongs to Usyk.<\/p>\n
Editor’s Picks<\/p>\n
2 Related<\/p>\n
IBF heavyweight contender rankings<\/p>\n
Not rated<\/p>\n
Derek Chisora<\/p>\n
Frank Sanchez<\/p>\n
Richard Torrez Jr.<\/p>\n
Daniel Dubois<\/p>\n
Jared Anderson<\/p>\n
Michael Hunter<\/p>\n
Martin Bakole<\/p>\n
Bakhodir Jalolov<\/p>\n
Guido Vianello<\/p>\n
Filip Hrgovic<\/p>\n
Moses Itauma<\/p>\n
Efe Ajagba<\/p>\n
Peter Kadiru<\/p>\n
Lawrence Okolie<\/p>\n
Is Richard Torrez Jr. America’s next heavyweight champion?<\/p>\n
The opportunity in front of Torrez Jr. is the next step on the road to becoming America’s next heavyweight champion.<\/p>\n
Deontay Wilder was the last American to hold a heavyweight title, until he was beaten by Tyson Fury in 2020.<\/p>\n
In the same year, Torrez Jr.’s stellar amateur career ended with a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics.<\/p>\n
The California fighter, promoted by Top Rank, has built a 14-0 pro record.<\/p>\n
Most notably, he outpointed Guido Vianello. Earlier this month he added the latest victory to his CV against Tomas Salek.<\/p>\n
At only 6-foot-2 and 229 pounds against Vianello, Torrez Jr. is far from the tallest or heaviest in the biggest division. But his southpaw stance makes him an intriguing proposition.<\/p>\n
What will Oleksandr Usyk do?<\/p>\n
Usyk won the undisputed title in a second division when he beat Dubois earlier this year, but he no longer holds all of the belts.<\/p>\n
The undefeated Usyk chose to vacate the WBO belt, which meant Fabio Wardley was elevated to the status of full champion.<\/p>\n
Usyk still holds the IBF, WBA and WBC titles.<\/p>\n
Each organization will have its own mandatory challengers, meaning Usyk will have a queue of contenders lining up to face him, which could include Torrez Jr. or Sanchez.<\/p>\n
Usyk is 38 years old but insists he will battle on for another two years.<\/p>\n
He plans to return in 2026, but his next opponent is unclear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nov 28, 2025, 05:21 PM ET Richard Torrez Jr. has got the call to fight Frank Sanchez and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":313377,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-313376","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}