LOS ANGELES, California ? Former United States Boxing Association (USBA) super flyweight champion Vernie Torres will attempt to erase the stigma of a five-fight straight defeat when he tackles Torrence Daniels in a non-title fight at the Tropicana Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada on August 23.
Torres (27-11, 15 KOs) said at 34 he is not yet over-the-hill and is confident of adding the 33-year-old Daniels (10-4, 4 KOs) in his list of knockout victims in the United States since he first campaigned here in 1999.
A mainstay at Manny Pacquiao?s apartment at the Palazzo in La Berea, here, Torres has gotten some pointers on how to defeat Daniels from his partner North American Boxing Federation (NABF) super bantamweight king Bernabe Concepcion who blasted Daniels in two rounds at the Plaza de Toros Juriquilla, Queretaro, Mexico on April 26.
?Mas matangkad sia sa akin pero segurado akong kaya ko ang mga suntok nia (He is taller than me but I think I can handle his punches),? said Torres, a native of Davao City, Philippines.
Torres said he can?t afford to lose to Daniels because he has already absorbed five straight setbacks, his longest losing streak since he turned professional with a 4th round technical knockout win over Roberto Costelo in Davao on September 28, 1996.
In his last outing, Torres? handlers advised him to hang up his gloves after he suffered a brutal technical knockout (TKO) loss in the 4th round of a 10-round non-title duel to Julio Zarate at the Doubletree Hotel, Ontario, California on Nov. 2, 2007.
Since then, he joined Pacquiao, the WBC lightweight champion, and Concepcion in regular training at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood. They also jogged together like members of a national team. ?I learned a lot from the training I got while with Manny (Pacquiao),? he said in Tagalog.
He will fight Daniels almost a month after Concepcion?s non-title fight against Adam Carrera at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada in the preliminary bout of the Miguel Cotto versus Antonio Margarito duel for world welterweight championship.
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