“Torrez, to me, never got better,” Atlas said of his belief that Torrez Jr. hasn’t improved since coming out of the amateurs in 2022.
“I would hear the commentator say, ‘Oh, great. He’s this. He’s that.’ And I watch them say, ‘No, he’s not.’ He comes right in. He throws wide shots. He is one dimensional.
“You close your eyes, and you know he’s coming. You can throw an uppercut. You can catch him. Until he improves in those areas, I’m not going to talk about him.”
Atlas said the warning signs were ignored because Torrez faced opponents who couldn’t punish the mistakes he made in the ring.
“Pay me today or pay me tomorrow. You’re going to pay for it,” says Atlas. “That’s what I’ve seen every time I’ve seen Torres. He’s done things that he should have been hit for, but the guy he was with wasn’t able to throw that punch.
“Sooner or later you’re going to fight someone who’s capable.”
Atlas said Sanchez’s style was perfect for exposing Torrez because of the Cuban heavyweight’s size, timing and experience. “Torrez is made to order again for Sanchez. To come straight in, to lean a little bit, to throw wide shots, to be predictable.
“Sure enough, it reminded me a little bit of Foreman and Joe Frazier style-wise. You’ve got Sanchez a lot bigger, and you’ve got that uppercut.”
Atlas also took aim at the way prospects are built before facing significant opposition.
“The commentators make these guys out to be what they’re not before they’ve fought anybody,” Atlas said. “They make them sound like they are already a great fighter. What have they done?
“I look and say he’s one-dimensional. It’s just a matter of Sanchez getting his timing.”
