The year is 2011 and Bernard Torres has lived in Norway for a year. From his home in Hardanger, he and his family went on a short holiday trip to Hadeland. There they are visiting a family friend. In the past year, Bernard has known about several matters. He misses his father who died. He misses his homeland, and he misses what he spent all his time doing before he traveled to Norway as a 14-year-old. Because after he came to Norway, he hasn’t been able to lace up his boxing gloves even once, and the dream he had with his father of becoming a professional boxer is about to fade away. But then he accidentally opens the local newspaper in Hadeland. Photo: Avisa Hadeland The death Bernard Torres grew up in a fairly ordinary family in the Philippines. In the town of Tagbiliaran on the island of Bohol, he lived together with his five sisters, mother Marillo and his great father Bernardo. He was a policeman. And passionate about boxing. Bernard Torres’ father Bernardo sitting with Bernard and two of his sisters. Father Bernardo passed the passion on to his only son. So when Bernard was eight years old, he started training in boxing. – Boxing has become my identity. That’s who I am, says Bernard Torres. Bernard Torres, here on the right, started boxing early. But just two years later, when Bernard is ten years old, his father has a heart attack and dies. – He was my best friend. He gets a tear in the corner of his eye when he tells about his father. – I was with him the whole time. I was with him at work and we trained boxing together. Bernard Torres on top of the podium. He held Father Bernardo’s hand. Together they had a dream that Bernard would become a professional boxer and world champion in boxing. But suddenly he who was the spearhead of the dream was gone. Bernard remembers that he had to take a break from boxing and that the family was of course in great grief. But it was the boxing that helped him again. It was at the boxing club that he felt good. – It was at the boxing club that I had all my friends, says Bernard. And therefore he could still cling to a small hope that one day he could take the step into the world of boxing as a professional and fight for titles. “Military rules” But now things became difficult for the Torres family at home in the Philippines. Mother Maria “Marillo” Luz saw no other way out than to leave her children and travel abroad to raise money. First she tried to close in Ireland, before she finally went up to Kinsarvik in Hardanger. Bernard’s sisters lived with their grandparents. But he didn’t want to. As an eleven-year-old, he therefore moved into the boxing club to follow the dream he and his father had of reaching the top of the world and becoming professional boxers. – There were strict and big demands. There were military rules there, he says with the utmost seriousness. Bernard Torres far right in this photo from the boxing club he ran after his father died. At the boxing club, there was a tough regime where a strict schedule had to be followed. Get up early, do the regular work tasks, breakfast, jogging, boxing training, school, boxing training again and rest. – It was strictly yes. We trained both morning and evening, and we boxed in tournaments even though we were only children. In between, the tournaments were broadcast on television. And there was no doubt that Bernard showed great talent in the boxing ring. When he participated in tournaments, he was usually victorious. Here he is wearing the red helmet. He managed 60 fights as an amateur boxer before he was 14 years old. With every match he won, the professional dream came closer and closer. Hardanger He thrived at the boxing club he ran. Although his mother had left the family to support them, he had his sisters and grandparents in the Philippines. But in 2010, that was to change abruptly. Because then his mother had been in Norway for several years, and now she could bring the children under 18 to Kinsarvik in Hardanger where she lived and had a good job. Bernard knew that he did not want to move from his tropical home island, with great boxing traditions, to the cold north where boxing is more of a grassroots sport. It was in the Philippines that the professional dream was closest. But being alone on Bohol as a 14-year-old without family was ultimately too difficult to imagine. That’s why Bernard also packed his bag with the boxing gloves and got on the plane to Norway. In Kinsarvik, as he feared, there was not a boxing club within a mile. Mora thought it was just as well that he stayed away from the martial arts. Bernard’s professional dream seemed to go up in smoke. The Torres family gathered. In the middle stands Bernard’s mother Marillo surrounded by her children. Photo: Privat Notisen A year went by and Bernard only became more and more uncomfortable among high mountains and apple trees in Hardanger. Not once had he laced up his boxing gloves. But during the summer holiday at Hadeland in 2011 luck was to turn. Because when you opened the Hadeland newspaper on 4 August that year, you could read the following: – I finally get to box again, Bernard says he thought when he saw the ad in the newspaper. Bernard’s sister called the organizer straight away and asked if they could come. – It was just an arrangement I threw together then. The words belong to Kjell Sørum. Even a former boxer. Now boxing father, trainer and a very big enthusiast. He is the warden at Hadeland Folkemuseum at this time and has been given the loan of a large warehouse which is empty this summer. – I thought that now we should make boxing here, so that everyone in Gran could come and see what boxing was for. On Friday afternoon on 5 August 2011, Kjell Sørum drives to the warehouse where he will arrange the training. There is already a 14-year-old from the Philippines ready and waiting. – He was modest and very careful in his appearance. But when they put on his boxing gloves, the shy 14-year-old changed. – Then he wasn’t so shy anymore, says Kjell Sørum and laughs. And the video that the family took when Bernard went into the ring for the first time confirms what Kjell Sørum is saying for a long time. In a black top, Bernard Torres can be seen running over his opponent. Kjell Sørum stands outside and watches, admonishing Bernard not to hit so hard. Recommendation: Turn on the sound on the video. Bernard Torres, in a black top, plays with his opponent at Hadeland Folkemuseum in 2010. Kjell Sørum has to ask him several times to take it easy on his opponent. – It was very nice to be able to box again, says Bernard Torres himself about the wink. Kjell Sørum said that he also had some youth boxers from the area who were quite good by Norwegian standards. – But for Bernard… Kjell thinks about it before he continued: – It was just a game for him. He had full control and gave them a real lesson in what boxing was for and what the standard was, says Kjell Sørum. Bernard felt that the boxing flame still burned well within him. Like a father Nevertheless, he had to travel back to Hardanger after a fantastic boxing weekend in the storage hall at Hadeland Folkemuseum. But Kjell Sørum could not put aside his thoughts on the unique talent he had seen running over his students. Throughout the autumn, he had to hear how things were going with Bernard. – I contacted his mother and sister, but mother was not that interested in Bernard boxing more, says Kjell Sørum. But Kjell did not give up, and not long afterwards he was on a trip to Bergen. Then he called Bernard and the family again and wondered if he could visit them on the way home. – I think Bernard’s mother would have seen how badly he functioned without him being able to spend time on his passion, boxing. And thus Kjell was allowed to take Bernard back to Gran in Hadeland, so they could train a little more together. In the following years, Bernard Torres commuted from Hardanger to Gran on Hadeland once a month to practice boxing in Kjell’s garage. And then much more than just boxing began to fall into place for him. After some time commuting over the mountain, Bernard made the decision that would lead him all the way into Kjell’s heart. He moved to Gran. Then the collaboration started in full and now the childhood dream that Bernard had with his father at home in the Philippines was to be realized together with Kjell in Hadeland. – Kjell means a lot to me. Without Kjell, I wouldn’t have gotten to where I am today, says Bernard before continuing: – I lost my father when I was ten years old. I miss having a father, and then I met Kjell. He has been like a father to me. For Kjell, the relationship with Bernard has also been special. – He is our youngest boy here. We are so happy for him. Photo: Photographer BT Stokke / Photographer BT Stokke The professional dream When Torres moved to Gran and started training with Kjell Sørum, Team Torres was established. Then the whole of Norway quickly got to see what a great talent he was. The senior titles in the boxing NM were conquered in a row from 2015 to 2017. And while the amateur matches were won in a row, they realized that the professional dream could really become a reality. In 2017, the opportunity came. With 3,000 spectators at a boxing event in Skien, Georgian Jano Partsvania was completely run over. The judges were never in doubt and Torres had his fist raised towards the sky by the judge and declared the winner. In the professional matches that followed, the opponents were taken down one by one. Five years later, Bernard Torres had still not lost a single professional match in 15 attempts. At the start of 2022, he won a minor title and now many expected that he could take the big step up against the absolute best in the world. In the autumn, they traveled to one of the biggest stages in the boxing world. Namely the United States. Tapet On the other side of the Atlantic, he got the chance to show himself to the biggest audience and the most important people in the industry. But in the fight against Frency Fortunato Saya, Torres was a little too small, and his first professional loss was a fact. – It was very heavy. I destroyed myself and was not present in the ring, says Torres about the loss. Bernard Torres receives instructions from trainer Kjell Sørum. Manager Roar Sørum (in the middle) wipes some sweat off Bernard. Photo: Photographer BT Stokke But even though the road to the top got a bit of pressure last year, Torres didn’t let himself be disappointed for more than a week. Team Torres has subsequently gained a new support player on the team. Mental trainer Erik Bertrand Larsen has come along to help Torres focus on the right things along the way in the fights he is fighting. – In the last matches, we have noticed that Bernard loses a little focus during the matches. He starts to think a little too much, says Kjell Sørum. With the thoughts hopefully in the right place, the goal for 2023 is to become Europameister. It may be possible if he wins the match at Chateau Neuf on 9 June. And despite the fact that the loss in the USA was a bump in the road, Bernard Torres’ dream is just as clear. – My father and I dreamed of becoming world champions. That is still the goal. Simple and straightforward. Photo: Alf Simensen / NTB
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A notice in the local newspaper changes everything – Sport Langlesing
