America's next great heavyweight boxing star needs to change things up ahead of Vegas debut

The ‘next great American heavyweight’ is both a yearning and a burden. Since the era of , and Riddick Bowe passed, the pressure of following the roll call of great champions has pretty much claimed all contenders.

Enter Richard Torrez Jr, the latest to throw his hat in the ring. Torrez Jr is 12-and-0 with 11 wins inside the distance and boasts an Olympic silver in Tokyo.

At 6ft 2ins and a tad over 16 stones he is similar in dimension to the classic American heavyweight, slightly bigger than Jack Dempsey and , broadly in line with However, the heavyweight division changed at the turn of the century with the advent of tall, powerful men like Bowe, , the Klitschko brothers, and now double Olympic champion Bakhodir Jalolov, who weighs in at 6ft 7ins and 18st.

Jalolov, a big, dangerous puncher, beat Torrez Jr in the Tokyo final and continues his pro career in Astana on Saturday, the same night Torrez Jr makes his Las Vegas debut against Guido Vianello. Torrez Jr took the fight to Jalolov in Tokyo. It’s the only way he knows. He can’t fight on the back foot, relying on guts and a good chin to force the pace.

However, he is going to have to refine his style the higher up the food chain he goes. Some see him as a Rocky Marciano figure, but he’s a long way from that. And I’m not sure he is big enough against today’s behemoths.

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Oleksandr Usyk is ‘only’ 6ft 3ins. But he is exceptional, a one-off. He has done what very few cruiserweights are capable of doing, moving up to dominate at heavyweight.

Holyfield is the only other meaningful example. Can Torrez campaign against the best like Usyk? I’m not so sure. His footwork isn’t great and his style leaves him wide open.

Neither am I convinced about Jalolov. In his case, size is not necessarily his friend. Indeed, I believe it will work against him at the highest level.

There is a lot of him to hit, and he’s slow and predictable. In the amateurs you are fighting with closed cell foam in bigger gloves, which offers greater protection.

In the pros the gloves are a combination of horse hair and foam which produces more spectacular outcomes, generating greater force through impact. And that could ultimately be the undoing of Jalolov against elite heavyweights who hit just as hard but move better.

**Follow Barry on X at @‌ClonesCyclone @mcguigan’s_Gym