Many had written Sanchez off as a potential heavyweight champion following his defeat to Agit Kabayel in May 2024.

But the 33-year-old served a chilling reminder of his ability with this spectacular one-punch knockout of Torrez in their IBF final eliminator, live on DAZN.

“I’ve been working the whole time with my team in the gym,” said Sanchez of his lay-off. “We’ve been waiting for our opportunity, it came and we took it. Let’s see what next.”

With the No. 1 and No. 2 spots currently vacant, this fight between Sanchez (No. 3) and Torrez (No. 4) was a clash of the IBF’s highest-rated challengers to champion Oleksandr Usyk.

Sanchez added: “Usyk we’re ready for you whenever you want.”

It is unclear whether or not the Ukrainian plans to face Sanchez at all before he retires but this was the perfect statement from the Cuban on the undercard of Usyk’s clash with Rico Verhoeven at the Pyramids of Giza.

As always, Torrez emerged to the sounds of Beethoven’s "Moonlight Sonata" which felt fitting beneath the Egyptian desert stars. It was the 2020 Olympic silver medalist’s first ring-walk of the year; his first-round knockout of Tomas Salek in November was his most recent outing.

But Sanchez had been even less active, with a third-round stoppage of Ramon Echeverria in February last year his only fight since he lost his undefeated record to Kabayel at Kingdom Arena, Riyadh.

Torrez had told The Ring during the build-up that he had been studying Kabayel’s tactics for that fight as he attempted to hand Sanchez his second loss. He had also suggested that Sanchez would make a fast start at the Pyramids before he would assume control later on.

But if anything it was the herky-jerky, smaller man Torrez who was pushing the pace in the first round as Sanchez picked, poked and had a look at his opponent.

However, that all changed in the second round and Torrez's prediction that Sanchez would be dangerous in the early rounds proved to be spot on.

With 45 seconds gone in the second, as Torrez pawed with his front hand, Sanchez closed the gap and landed with a thudding right uppercut which sent his opponent down flat on his back.

Although he looked completely out, Referee Albert Earl Brown gave Torrez a count. He actually managed to reach his feet before 10 was up, but quickly fell over again. The official time was 55 seconds of round two.

On the knockout shot, Sanchez said: “I’ve been working on that with my trainer, we knew he comes forward with his head down. Eddy Reynoso kept telling me to throw the uppercut, we practiced it in the dressing room and it came off.”

Torrez is The Ring's No. 8-ranked heavyweight but will likely be replaced by Sanchez in the next ratings update on Monday.