Diary Day 4: Torres wins qualifier, headed to Olympic Trials

CINCINNATI — It is a dream come true. That was our main goal — to make the Olympic Trials. That was our short term goal. Our next goal is to make the Olympic team.

I’m truly blessed right now to be in this situation. God has given me an opportunity to do something great in my life and I have to take full advantage of it.

(Friday), the fight was tough. The guy (Joe Perez) would lean on top of me. At the end of the first round, I was leading 6-2. We thought this guy was going to come at me in the second round because he was down by 4 points. But he didn’t.

I know in the first round, we hurt him. We hurt him in every round. At the end of the second round, I was up 18-9. In the third round, he actually came at me pretty strong but we caught him with some shots that moved him back. We ended up pulling out the fight 28-16.

It was a pretty good fight.  My cornerman (Hylon Williams) told me, “Use your intelligence in the ring. You are very smart fighter. Box this guy. This guy wants you to stay on the inside with him. All you need to do is box him.”

That is what we did — we just boxed him. We used fundamental boxing — just basic boxing. That is what we were catching him with and that is how we were scoring our points. By the end of the fight, we pulled it out. Now, we are on our way to the Olympic Trials in August.

You have to win (the Olympic Trials) to make the Olympic team. When we get back to (the Rio Grande Valley), I’m going to be back in the gym on Wednesday. I’m going to take two days off and let my body recover.

We are going to get back in the gym on Wednesday because the first week of August is the Olympic Trials. It is going to come around real quick. There is no time to mess around. We need to get right back down to business.

— As told by Isaac Torres