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Photo Credit: Courtesy Ana Maria Torres 5'4" bantamweight Ana María Torres was born
on January 25 1980 in
Neza, México and fights out of México City. She is trained by
Jose Morales, the father of Erik Morales.
She made her pro debut on July
3, 1999 at La Arena México in México City,
with a four-round split (39-37, 39-38, 37-39)
decision over Mariana Juárez
in a 49-kg (jr. flyweight) bout.
On September 15, 1999 at La
Arena México in México City,
Ana María (119 lbs) won by a third-round TKO over Erika Juarez (118
lbs) of México who fell to 1-1.
On December 11, 1999 at La
Arena México in México City,
Ana María Torres and Mariana Juárez
fought to a four-round
draw in a rematch of their fight on July 3 (which was on the first
women's card to be sanctioned since the City lifted its ban on women's
boxing).
On February 12, 2000 in Mexico
City, Mexico
Ana María won a third-round TKO over Maribel Zamora
in a scheduled four-round bantamweight contest. Zamora fell to 0-3 with
the loss.
On June 2, 2000 in Irapuato,
Guanajuato, México,
Ana María won a four-round decision
over Berenice Chavez, who fell to 1-3-1.
On June 12, 2001 at Salon 21
in Polanco, México,
Ana María Torres moved to 5-0-1 (3 KO's) with a second round TKO over
Miriam Serrano who fell to 0-2.
On July 12, 2001 in Tijuana,
México, Ana Maria TKO'd pro debuter Elizabeth Ruiz in the second round
of a bantamweight bout.
On June 26, 2002 at Salon 21
in Polanco, México, 2000 fans saw Ana María win a close ten-round
unanimous decision in a rematch with Mariana
Juárez who fell to 7-2-2 (5 KO).
This hard-fought bout for the vacant Mexican bantamweight title was the
third between Torres and Juárez. “When I fought for the
Mexican title the arena was full,” said Juarez, "it
was the most exciting fight I’ve ever fought but there was little
boxing.”
On February 22, 2003 at Plaza
México, México City, México,
Ana María won a second-round TKO over Ofelia Dominguez,
who fell to 0-4-1.
On May 19, 2003 at Auditorio
Municipal in Tijuana, México,
Ana María won by an eighth round TKO in a bantamweight bout with
Berenice Chavez of México City, who fell to 1-7-2 (0 KO).
On November 13, 2003 at Fort
Cheyenne Casino in North Las Vegas, Nevada, USA,
a scheduled non-title bout between
Ana María and then #1 ranked bantamweight Ada
Velez of
Puerto Rico did not take place because of visa problems for Torres.
On February 13, 2004 at
Auditorio Municipal in Mexicali, México, Ivonne Muñoz
Leon (116¾ lbs) of México City won a ten-round unanimous decision over
Ana María
(114¾ lbs) for Torres's Mexican bantamweight title. Munoz was now 6-1-1
(2 KO).
Ana María vs. LaKeysha Williams
in March 2004
© Copyrighted photograph by Mary Ann Owen
On March 26, 2004 at Fort
Cheyenne Casino Event Center, North Las Vegas, Nevada, USA,
Ana María (120 lbs) TKO'd LaKeysha Williams (119 lbs) of Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania
at 3:00 in the fourth round of a scheduled eight-rounder.
Torres started slowly using a slow jab, which Williams countered
effectively
with wide rights. Williams was able to land on Torres in the early part
of the second
with jabs followed by the looping right. However, Torres soon began to
feint
before coming forward, to get Williams out of position for her counter
shots.
Torres then began to find her way inside on a forward-leaning Williams
with body shots, followed by big uppercuts
that forced Williams to tighten up her defense. Torres's body punching
then
became the story of the fight as Torres gained confidence coming
forward to
land hard hooks to the American's body. Williams, whose face began to
redden and swell from Torres' bombardment, was forced to begin holding
Torres. Torres' body shots still took their toll, however, and referee
Kenny Bayless stopped the bout at the end of the fourth with Williams clearly in
trouble. Torres was now 10-1-1 (7 KO) while Williams fell to 7-6-2
(1 KO).
On
December 10, 2004 in front of a packed house at Salón Marbet Plus in
Ciudad Nezahualcoyotl, México,
Ana María (116½ lbs) won by a TKO when Golden Gloves champion Yadira
Rosales (115¾ lbs) of México City,
who was making her pro debut, failed to answer the
bell for the sixth round. With an animated home crowd urging her on in
the card's Main Event, Torres got on top of Rosales at the start and
never let up, using her skill and greater experience to wicked
effect. As was the case in March 2005 when she stopped Lakeysha
Williams in the
fourth, it was her opponent’s face that got the worst of it. By the
time she retired between the fifth and six rounds,
Rosales’s mouth was a mess and had begun to hemorrhage.
On December 21,
2005 at
Deportivo de la Nueva
Atzacoalco in México City, in front of
over 1,000 boxing fans, Ana Maria (117¼ lbs) won a
10-round unanimous decision over Susana Vazquez (115¾ lbs) of Toluca, México
for the vacant
Mexican Female Bantamweight title. There were reports that
this was the best fight of the night on this card. Vazquez's
pro record fell to 1-2-0 (0 KOs).
On May 13, 2006 at the Deportivo
de la Nueva Atzacoalco in Mexico City, Mexico, Ana María Torres (114½ lbs)
was more than 34-year-old grandmother Gloría "Dinamita" Ríos (112½ lbs)
could handle in their top-of-the-bill clash for the vacant NABF Super
Flyweight, and Torres's Mexican Bantamweight title. Referee Laurentino
Ramírez stopped the fight 1:15 into the sixth to spare Ríos further
punishment. Rios fell to 3-5-1 (0 KOs).
On June 7, 2006 in Kosung,
North Korea, Ana Maria Torres (117 lbs) lost a ten-round split decision
to Kwang Ok Kim (116¾ lbs) of North Korea for the WBC Bantamweight
title. Kim improved to 5-0-0 (4 KOs) with the win.
On October 7, 2006 in Xalapa,
Mexico Ana Maria
Torres (115 lbs ) TKO'd Mayela Pérez
(114½ lbs)
of Saltillo, Mexico at 1:50 in the sixth round. Torres improved to
14-2-1 (10 KOs) while
Perez fell to 7-5-1 (6 KOs).
On April 16,
2007 at Coliseo Cruz in Santo Domingo,
Dominican Republic, Ana Maria Torres won a 10-round unanimous
(98-92,98-92,97-95) decision for the WBC Super Flyweight Title over
Dahianna Santana of the Dominican Republic. Torres
improved to 15-2-1 (10 KOs) while Sanatana fell to 8-4-0
(2 KOs).
On October 19, 2007 in Gaeseong City, North Korea, Myung Ok Ryu (115
lbs) of North Korea won a 10-round split (96-93,95-94,93-96) decision
over Ana Maria Torres (113¼ lbs) for the WBC Female Junior Bantamweight
title. Ryu used clinches to negate the aggressive style of Torres, and
Torres was badly cut over her left eye in the seventh round. The ring
doctor ruled that the cut had been caused by Ryu's head, but no point
was deducted. Torres protested that the ninth and tenth rounds had been
cut short by the timer.
On April 26, 2008 at the
Plaza de Toros Juriquilla
in Queretaro, Mexico, Torres (114 lbs) and Myung Ok Ryu (114½ lbs)
fought to a 10-round majority draw (95-95,95-95,97-93 for Torres) in a
rematch of their hotly disputed bout in North Korea. Ryu retained the WBC
Junior Bantamweight title with this result. Ryu was now 5-0-1 (3 KOs).
On August 30, 2008 at Arena
Monterrey in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico, Ana Maria Torres (115 lbs)
won a 10-round unanimous decision over Esmeralda Moreno (114½ lbs) for
the Interim WBC Super Flyweight title. The judges' scores
were 99-91, 98-92, 99-91. Moreno
fell to 9-4 (3 KO's).
On March 1, 2009 at Auditorio
Guelaguetza in Oaxaca, Mexico, Ana María Torres (114½ lbs) regained the
WBC Junior Bantamweight title with a TKO at 0:57 in the fourth round
over an overmatched Paulina Cardona (113½ lbs) of Barranquilla,
Colombia. Torres
dominated the light-punching and tentative Cardona
during the first three rounds with a strong attack to the head. The end
came when Torres cornered Cardona and landed a barrage of punches that
persuaded Canadian referee Len
Koivisito to call
a halt to the one-sided affair. Cardona
fell to 13-5-3 (6 KO's).
On June 13,
2009 at Centro Banamex in Mexico City,
Mexico
Ana María Torres (115
lbs) retained her WBC Junior Bantamweight
title with a ten-round unanimous (95-94,98-92,96-94) decision over
previously undefeated Usanakorn Kokietgym (115 lbs) of Thailand.
According to Notifight.com, The Thai boxer started well, making good
use of her advantages of height and reach and, above all, her southpaw
stance to take control of the fight in the early rounds. But little by
little Ana María took the measure of her awkward opponent, landing her
best punches in the second half of the fight to obtain a unanimous
decision. Kokietgym fell to 4-1 (4 KO's).
On August 29,
2009 at Ciudad Deportiva
in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico,
Ana Maria Torres (115 lbs) won a 10-round unanimous (97-94,96-94,99-91)
decision over previously undefeated Ava
Knight (115 lbs) of Chico, California for the WBC Junior
Bantamweight title. A local report opined that Torres was 'much
superior' and 'used her reach advantage to good effect' but Knight
moved well and made for a difficult target. She also gave Torres a
bloody nose which 'only made her more determined'. Knight
fell to 5-1-2 (2 KO's) with the loss.
On October 31,
2009 at Gimnasio Del Imcufide, in Toluca, México, Ana María
Torres
(115 lbs) won by a TKO at 1:34 of the third round over Stephaney George
of Georgetown, Guyana in a scheduled 10-rounder. Torres was defending
her WBC Junior Bantamweight title. George fell
to 5-8-0 (0 KO's) with her sixth straight professional loss.
On July
3, 2010 at Centro de Convenciones in Tlalnepantla, Mexico
Ana Maria Torres (115 lbs) KO'd Olga Julio of Barranquilla, Colombia in
the fourth round of a scheduled ten-rounder for the WBC Junior
Bantamweight title. Julio fell to 7-81 (3 KO's).
On
September 11, 2010 at Plaza de Toros in Mexico City, Ana Maria Torres
(114½ lbs) won a ten-round unanimous (100-88 x 3) decision over Alesia-Tamara Graf
(114½
lbs) of Germany for the WBC Junior Bantamweight title. Graf,
who
was down twice in the third round, fell to 24-2-0 (9 KO's) with the
loss.
On November 6, 2010 at
Poliforum Zamna in Merida, Yucatán, Mexico, Ana Maria Torres (114¾ lbs)
TKO'd Hollie Dunaway
(110¼ lbs) of Las Vegas, NV, USA, at
1:13 in the sixth round of a scheduled ten-rounder for the WBC Junior
Bantamweight title. Torres, whose aggressive fast-forward style had
kept Dunaway backing up for much of the earlier rounds,
trapped
Dunaway in a corner and the fight was stopped by the referee after
Dunaway took a series of hard shots to the head. Dunaway fell to 23-9-1
(10 KO's) with the loss.
On
January 22, 2011 at Arena Neza in Ciudad Nezahualcoyotl, Mexico, Ana
Maria Torres (114¾ lbs) won a 10-round unanimous (100-89,100-89,98-91)
decision over Naoko Yamaguchi (5′1½", 114¾
lbs) of Tokyo, Japan for the WBC Junior Bantamweight
title. Yamaguchi fell to 16-3-3 (14
KO's).
On April 16, 2011 at the
World Trade Center in Boca del Rio, Veracruz, Mexico, Ana Maria
Torres (120 lbs) and WBC interim Junior Featherweight champion Jackie Nava
(120 lbs) of Tijuana, Mexico battled to a hard-fought ten round
(95-95 x 3) draw. Torres was more aggressive and outworked
Nava
early in this much-anticipated "superfight", scoring with hard left
hooks to the body and rights to Nava's head that began to raise a welt
under Nava's left eye. Nava's conditioning allowed her to withstand the
body attack and her quickness and movement even improved throughout the
fight as she rebounded to keep it close
overall. Torres absorbed more clean shots from Nava in the
later
rounds and ended the fight with a bloody nose. Nava's record
moved to 24-3-3 (11 KO's).
On
June 11, 2011 at Auditorio Miguel Barragan in San Luis
Potosi, Mexico, Ana Maria Torres (114¾ lbs) KO'd Vannessa
Guimaraes (115 lbs) of Curitiba, Brazil at 1:32 in the fourth round 0f
a
scheduled 10-rounder for the WBC Junior Bantamweight title. Guimaraes
fell to 9-4-0 (8 KO's) with the loss.
On July 30, 2011 at the
Metropolitan Arena
in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, Mexico, Ana Maria Torres (118 lbs) won an
exceptionally hard-fought ten-round
unanimous (96-94 x 3) decision in a rematch with Jackie
Nava for the
first
women's Diamond Belt of the WBC. Both came out swinging to cheers from
their fans. Nava was more effective in the early going, landing
with good combinations and
damaging the nose of Torres. Torres began to exert her power midway
through the
fight and won a furious finish to take the decision in the last two
rounds. Nava fell to 24-4-3 (11 KO's).
Ana Maria Torres was named
WBAN Fighter of
the Month for August 2011 for her win over Jackie Nava.
On
October 8, 2011 at the Auditorium of Cabo San Lucas in Baja California,
Mexico, Ana Maria (115 lbs) defended the WBC Junior Bantamweight title
with a clear ten-round unanimous (100-89 x3) decision
over Marisa Portillo (113½ lbs) of
Rosario, Argentina. Torres attacked Portillo relentlessly with
combinations to the head and body. The later rounds saw many
of Torres's punishing attacks end in clinches with both
fighters pushing and shoving. The referee deducted a point
from Portillo for holding in the final round. Torres
dominated the fight but looked frustrated at not producing a
knockout while becoming the first woman to make ten straight
defenses of a
WBC world title. Torres improved to 27-3-3 (15 KO's) with this win
while Portillo fell to 10-5-2 (2 KO's).
On March 31, 2012
at Gimnasio
Auditorio in Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, Mexico, Ana Maria
Torres (115 lbs) overwhelmed Maria Andrea Miranda (115 lbs) of Monitos,
Colombia, who failed to come out for the fourth round of a scheduled
ten-rounder for the WBC Junior Bantamweight title. Torres had
delivered punishing hooks to the liver of her Colombian challenger
throughout the third round, leaving Miranda unable to continue.
Torres improved to 28-3-3 (16 KO's) while Miranda fell to
14-8 (9 KO's).
Ana María
Torres is that relative rarity, a female who has learned to box in
textbook style. She holds her hands up and elbows tucked in, throws
straight punches, moves her feet well, and can hit hard to the body to
wear her opponent down and to open the way for punishing shots to the
head.
Her success in the sport is
emblematic of female athletes emulating their male counterparts in all
respects other than pure size and muscular strength. Torres has shown
the same mastery of the skills and techniques of this sport, and the
same determination and dedication to her craft as any male champion.
Page
last updated: Sunday, April 27 2014
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