Paez Meets Torres in Forum Fight

Jorge Paez hopes to position himself for his third championship challenge when he fights Jesse Torres in a main event tonight at the Forum.

With a victory, Paez will get a title match with lightweight champion Freddy Pendleton on July 17 at Las Vegas.

Tonight is Paez’s first Forum appearance since last October, when he lost to Rafael Ruelas.

Paez, who often performs as a clown in his family’s Mexicali-based traveling circus, is 43-5-4. Torres, from Aurora, Ill., is 13-4-3.

Paez won a piece of the featherweight crown in 1988, defended it eight times, then moved up in weight for unsuccessful challenges to Tony Lopez in 1990 and Pernell Whitaker in ’91.