Punching Out of It: USA Boxing Has Olympic Revival in Tokyo

Richard Torrez Jr., of the United States, right, lands a shot to the face of Kamshybek Kunkabayev, of Kazakhstan, during their super heavy weight +91kg semifinal boxing match at the 2020 Summer Olympics, in Tokyo, Japan, on Aug. 4, 2021. Frank Franklin II/AP Photo

TOKYO—Richard Torrez Jr. went into the Olympic boxing ring on Wednesday with a game plan jointly concocted over the phone by his father back home in central California and by Billy Walsh, his national team’s head coach in Tokyo.

The 22-year-old super heavyweight from Tulare then executed the plan perfectly and repeatedly until his Kazakh opponent’s face was split too far open to continue the third round, thanks to a brutal barrage of Torrez’s confounding overhand lefts.