(MAY 18) Like the colonel in the Gabriel García Márquez story El coronel no tiene quien le escriba, Ana Maria Torres spent most of 2004/2005 waiting for a letter that never arrived. The letter was from her US promoter, Douglas Terry, telling her when and against whom she would be disputing the then vacant WIBA bantamweight championship — she had expected it to be in Las Vegas in March 2005 —" but no one,” as Torres’s manager, Jacobo Ríos, explained at the time, "(was) prepared to let their girl step into the ring with her.”

What put the wind up them, it seems, was her four-round demolition of Lakeysha Williams at Fort Cheyenne Casino in March the previous year. “Ana Maria Torres is that rare animal,” wrote Lawrence Hidaka after that encounter: “a female boxer who knows how to box. She holds her hands up and elbows in textbook-style, throws straight punches, moves her feet like a boxer, and can hurt you to the body. I would go to another Dangerous Curves card just to see her. That’s assuming they can match her with someone who will last more than a couple of rounds.”

Torres loved that fight. "They introduced me as Mexico's secret weapon," she recalls. "I got an incredible reception from the press and the promoter, and in the arena they were chanting: 'Mexico! Mexico!

"You get a tremendous buzz – I really can't describe it – hearing them chanting the name of your country when you're fighting abroad. It fills you with pride and gives you the energy to press forward."

But then came the wait, and for months on end, 'La Guerrera de Neza’ (The Warrior from Neza, as she's called) went on training and checking the post.

“I’m desperate because I’ve been out of action for so long,” she said at the time. “I had one fight against Yadira Rosales in December but it wasn’t on the level we were hoping for.” Rosales, to be fair, lasted longer than Williams, whom she weakened with ‘whaling hooks and uppercuts to the body’ in the second, varying her attacks in the third and fourth with shots to the head that caused the Philadelphia native’s face to redden and swell, prompting referee Kenny Bayless to stop the contest at the end of the 4th. But it left her unsatisfied, and with energy to burn.

"She’s killing herself in the gymnasium," complained Ríos, "and hearing nothing."

Well, finally, the letter has arrived. Not the letter she was expecting, perhaps, but another just as welcome: Mauricio Sulaimán, Executive Secretary of the WBC, has just written to inform her that following her six-round demolition of 34-year-old grandmother Gloria Ríos on Saturday evening for the vacant NABF Super Flyweight title (Torres's Mexican Bantamweight Title was also up for grabs), she has been awarded a shot at Kwang Ok Kim's WBC belt in North Korea on the 4th June.

Thirty-four isn't, in fact, that old for a granny – my own grandmother, had she lived, would be even older – and whilst for a boxer it's getting on, Stefania Bianchini, who successfully defended her WBC Flyweight title last Friday, is 37, and Laura Serrano, whom WBAN ranks #1 in the world at featherweight, 38. What put paid to the title ambitions of Gloria Ríos was not age but the left uppercut with which the champion found her jaw in the sixth. Having had her on the verge of knockout in the first and let her off the hook, Torres this time made no mistake, driving the stricken challenger quickly into the ropes before unleashing a merciless, two-fisted barrage that had the referee, Laurentino Ramírez, rushing to separate them.

That performance in the Deportivo de la Nueva Atzacoalco was typical of Torres, only three of whose opponents have ever lasted the full ten rounds, and it brought what was reportedly a 'magnificent crowd' (amply justifying the fight's top billing) to its feet.

"You have to be the best," Torres's parents are always telling her. "Not one of the pack. Nor even one of the best. The best."

Ana María Torres will find out on the 4th June (or at least have a rather better idea) whether or not she is the best, when she fights the unbeaten Kwang Ok Kim for the world title. No time to relax and enjoy the win over Ríos. Today, already, she was back at the open-air gym in the colony Díaz Mirón with her trainer, Miguel Angel 'Ratón' González, and sparring partners de Edgar Sosa y Omar Ibarra to make sure she's 100% fit for the challenge.

The long wait, then, is over and the assault on the summit – as in mountaineering, the last few paces are invariably the hardest – a fortnight away. She's been boxing professionally since she was 18, when she won on a split decision the first women's bout ever sanctioned in Mexico. Since then, she's seen off Mariana Juárez, and Erika Juárez, and Maribel Zamora, and Berenice Chavez, and Miram Serrano, and Elizabeth Ruiz, and Ofelia Dominguez, and LaKeysha Williams, and Yadira Rosales, and Susana Vasquez, as well as the brave but hapless Ríos. The brass ring, finally, is inches from her grasp. She has one more neck to stand on - if you'll pardon the brutality of the expression - and it's hers.

Sources:  Box Latino, Yahoo! Deportes (Mexico)