Rene Catalan on Jomary Torres’ struggles: ‘Her focus wasn’t there’

Catalan Fighting System head coach Rene “The Challenger” Catalan did not mince words when asked what led to Jomary “The Zamboanginian Fighter” Torres’ struggles in ONE Championship.

Once considered the future of her division after winning four straight matches, Torres fell through the cracks. She went 0-4-1 in her last five bouts, getting relegated to the bottom half of the division after such a promising start.

For Catalan, he felt disappointed since Torres seemingly lost focus after beating Team Lakay’s April Osenio by an emphatic slam in the first round.

“There are times when she missed training because sometimes it was already three ‘o clock am and she was still on her phone,” Catalan said.

“She lost her discipline, the things that she was previously doing. Her focus wasn’t there — the focus that we saw in her training initially.”

The good thing for Catalan is Torres is only 23 years old, and she has already realized her shortcomings after her unfortunate stretch.

She looked a different athlete altogether in the first few moments of her match against Jenny “Lady GoGo” Huang at ONE: Fire and Fury last January, but that match was stopped prematurely after the Filipina was unintentionally hit low on two occasions.

Torres’ preparation and the first few moments of her match give Catalan hope that his prized student can bounce back.

“For as long as she remains focused and disciplined, I think there’s a big chance for Jomary to get back on track and maybe put herself in contention in the near future,” Catalan said.

“She’s still young and I can see her focus in training is back. I have been telling her that I need to see the Jomary Torres of old, and so far, I like what I am seeing.”

Catalan knows it will be a long way back for Torres to reclaim her spot in the upper echelon of the weight class. Still, it’s an obstacle the 41-year-old trainer and athlete are willing to hurdle together.

“It’s a good challenge,” he said, “Not just for her, but for the team to persevere.

“We’re still positive. We want to remain positive so we can further motivate Jomary and the team to train even harder so they can barge into the rankings soon.”