Richard Torrez Jr. Powers Through Joey Dawejko

Dowejko loses in fifth round after disqualification

Richard Torrez Jr. And Joey Dawejko at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona /

By Jeniffer Achieng

Torrez Jr. (10-0) has clinched all his wins via knockout and was last seen in the ring with Brandon Moore in a fight that ended with a fifth round KO handing Brandon Moore his first defeat as he was undefeated at the time.

Dawejko (28-11-4) is a veteran of the sport. In his career spanning a decade and a half, the 34-year-old has produced mixed results. He is also a former WBC USA Silver heavyweight champion and was last seen in a third-round retirement win over Walter Burns in April.

Torrez fought in a well-controlled manner, this proved he is not just a one-dimensional fighter. He used the jab, footwork and feints to take control of the fight.

Fighting strongly, the Californian began Hitting Dawejko with ease. The effects of those hard shots made Dawejko to keep losing his mouthpiece. The referee threatened to disqualify Dawejko after he lost his mouthpiece a couple of times, and some points had to be taken away at some point after this occurred repeatedly.

Torrez poured on the offense by landing uppercuts as Dawejko was beginning to wilt. He then went for body shots regularly which put Dawejko in survival mode.

The outcome was becoming more apparent in the fourth round as Torrez’s busy right hand blinded Dawejko to the southpaw left hands that were crashing onto his head with great regularity. Dawejko proceeded to lose his mouthpiece four times in the round, the referee picked it up and put it into his mouth each time without rinsing it off, and this led to points deduction for Dawejko.

In between the short breaks, Dawejko begun to break down physically as a left uppercut nearly dropped him at one point.

In the fifth round, both traded hard shots. Torrez was able to land a punishing uppercut that saw Dawejko wobble a little, he landed another hard shot that caused his opponent’s mouthpiece to drop again. Staying true to his word, the referee had to disqualify Dawejko.

The loss ends a run for Dawejko where he had won seven of his previous eight bouts following back-to-back stoppage losses to Stephan Shaw and Zhan Kossobustkly in 2022 and 2021.