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Mike CoppingerESPN
LAS VEGAS — Keyshawn Davis and Richard Torrez Jr., who both claimed silver medals at the Olympic Games in Tokyo this summer, have signed multiyear promotional deals with Top Rank, it was announced Wednesday.
Davis, who competed as a lightweight in Tokyo, will make his Top Rank debut on Dec. 11 in New York on the ESPN undercard of Vasiliy Lomachenko vs. Richard Commey.
Torrez, who fought at super heavyweight at the Olympics, is set to make his pro debut in early 2022 and will campaign at heavyweight.
“I think Top Rank … was the best move for me because they build the best fighters for sure and they have the best network [ESPN] for sure,” Davis, 22, told ESPN on Wednesday. “I’m the Olympian coming into the pros.”
Davis will be trained by Brian McIntrye, the trainer of welterweight champion Terence Crawford.
A Norfolk, Virginia, native, Davis paused his pro career (3-0, 2 KOs) to compete in the Olympics. His older brother, 24-year-old Kelvin Davis, also signed with Top Rank and will compete on the Dec. 11 show. Kelvin is 2-0 and competes at 147 pounds.
Torrez, who is 6-foot-1, said that what he lacks in size he makes up for in “power and conditioning.”
“I’m a firm believer that I am the most conditioned heavyweight out there and I’ll stick to my word,” Torrez told ESPN. “I can go anywhere from 220 to 240 [pounds]. It really just depends on the style that I wanna have and the fight that I wanna bring to the table. I want to be heavyweight champion of the world.”
Top Rank’s haul beefs up a prospect stable that includes heavyweight Jared Anderson, Olympic silver medalist Duke Ragan, Troy Isley Jr. and Xander Zayas.
Davis, who appears to be on the fast track to a title shot, was hotly pursued by several other promoters before linking up with Bob Arum’s company. His pro debut came in February on the Eddie Hearn-promoted undercard of Canelo Alvarez-Avni Yilidirm before an April fight in Dubai on ESPN+ and another May appearance under Canelo.
In Tokyo, Keyshawn was defeated by Andy Cruz while Torrez lost to Bakhodir Jalolov in their attempts to bring gold back to the United States. Now, the pair will develop on ESPN platforms as they pursue title shots in the pros.
Source: www.espn.com