When Bernard Torres was a child, sleeping on the ring canvas of the gym he called home in the Philippines, Madison Square Garden was just a place he saw on television. The big fights took place at that venue in New York City, and never could he imagine that he’d one day find himself in that ring.

That dream will come to reality on Feb. 16, when he faces fast rising prospect Bruce Carrington in a ten-round featherweight bout which airs live on ESPN as the television opener to the card that will be headlined by WBC junior lightweight titleholder O’Shaquie Foster defending his belt against Abraham Nova.

It’s a big ask for the 27-year-old Torres (18-1, 8 knockouts), a significant underdog against Carrington (10-0, 6 KOs), The Ring’s 2023 Prospect of the Year from Brooklyn, N.Y., but a big win would be a life changer.

“This is a very big opportunity for me. Winning this fight will hopefully open more doors for me,” said Torres, a 5’4″ southpaw who is a boxer first, but can turn up the pressure when needed.

“This is probably going to be the best boxer I’m going to meet in my career. I want to be the best so I have to fight the best.”

Fighting under the bright lights of New York City will take a lot of adjustments, but that’s what Torres’ life has been all about.

Born the second youngest – and only boy – of six children in Tagbilaran City in the Philippines’ Bohol province, Torres was introduced to boxing by his father, a police officer who died in 2005. His mother, now the family’s only breadwinner, left her job as a social worker in the Philippines to work as a live-in nurse in Norway all the way on the other side of the world. It would be two years before she could sponsor her children and bring them along with her to the Nordic country.

Boxing was Torres’ refuge during that time, in a very literal sense. From ages 10 to 14, Torres lived in Bohol’s ALA Gym with about eight other boxers, including future WBC featherweight titleholder Mark Magsayo. Their routine consisted of cleaning the gym upon waking, followed by their morning jog and then heading off to school. Afterwards they’d begin their boxing training in the afternoon.

His mother was finally able to send for her children when he was 14, but their new home in western Norway didn’t have a boxing gym nearby, making it tough to pursue the pastime he loves.

“The first year was tough because I lived far away from my boxing club. The first eight months I stopped boxing. All I did was shadowboxing. We have a Filipino friend here near the boxing gym, and my sister took me here. My coach saw that I have potential. He took me to his club and I transferred to this place,” said Torres of Gran Boxing Club, a gym near Norway’s capital of Oslo, where he trains under Kjell Sørum, about a six-hour drive from his mother’s home.

“I don’t know what I’ll do without boxing.”

Torres flourished under Sørum’s guidance, finishing a 170-fight amateur career with 7-Norwegian national championships, making it to Norway’s national team, where he boxed all over Scandinavia, plus other countries like Spain, Azerbaijan, Romania, Turkey and Serbia. After falling short in the opening rounds of two qualifying events for the 2016 Olympics, Torres turned pro in 2017. Getting fights in Norway wasn’t so easy, as professional boxing had only been legalized the year before, thanks in large part to the popularity of Norwegian boxing legend Cecilia Braekhus. As a result, most of his pro bouts have taken place in Spain.

Bernard Torres and his team making their entrance. Photo by @backofenphoto/Instagram

His biggest fight to date came in September of 2022, when he traveled to Atlantic City to face the much larger Frency Fortunato Saya in a ShoBox bout that was televised on Showtime. Torres was dropped on a right hand in round 4 of a split decision loss, but battled back hard to make it a close fight which could have gone either way. Since then he has won two straight in Norway.

Facing Carrington, 26, will be a whole different challenge. Carrington, who won the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials but didn’t get to compete in Tokyo due to complications from the COVID-19 pandemic, has been one of the breakout prospects of Top Rank’s roster. He fought five times in 2023, but will be facing just his second southpaw as a professional.

To prepare, Torres and team traveled to London, England today for a 16-day mini camp, where they’ll get a higher level of sparring than that which is available in Norway.

Torres hopes that success in his boxing career can mean that he will be able to support himself off his purses. He currently works part-time as a kindergarten assistant in Norway, though he says the children and parents are excited to have one of the country’s seven active male pro boxers in their midst. A win over a rising star at the world’s most famous arena would go a long way towards that goal.

“I hope to have a living for boxing and become a world champion. It’s been my dream since I first started. Boxing is hard in Norway and we don’t get a lot of money, so I hope to make a living one day from boxing,” said Torres.

“Before when I was a kid I would just watch big fights there on the TV. Now is my opportunity to show the world that I belong there.”

Ryan Songalia has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler and The Guardian, and is part of the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism Class of 2020. He can be reached at [email protected].