Tulare boxer Richard Torrez Jr. heading to Tokyo Olympics

TULARE, Calif. (KFSN) -- Another Central Valley boxer is heading to the Olympics!

Richard Torrez Jr. will be one of six boxers representing team USA at the Summer games in Tokyo.

The Tulare native will compete in the super heavyweight division as the top ranked American.

RELATED: Meet Richard Torrez Jr.

In a statement he said it's everyone's dream to make the games but that he 'needs to be there.'

"The fire that was instilled in me before I could even walk, that drives me to be the best, the fire that has been in my family for generations, has overflowed. The fire that was instilled in me before I could even walk, that drives me to be the best, the fire that has been in my family for generations, has overflowed. It has set ablaze all my second options, and it has made ashes of any other possibility besides that of success."

Torrez is a third generation boxer whose grandfather paved the way in 1945.