By Ian S Palmer
Junior welterweight prospects Thomas Dulorme of Puerto Rico and Karim Mayfield of the U.S. are scheduled to meet at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on Saturday, March 29 for the vacant NABF Title. The 10-round bout is on the undercard of the WBO light heavyweight title bout between champion Sergey Kovalev and Cedric Agnew and can be seen across North America on HBO.
Dulorme is actually coming down seven pounds in weight for this contest as he’s recently been fighting as a welterweight. However, he feels it’s the right thing to do as the drop in weight will give him more punching power and he has no problem meeting the 140 lb. limit. He said he’s comfortable at the new weight and is well prepared for Mayfield’s awkward style and power.
The 24-year-old Dulorme will enter the ring with a 24-1 record with 14 Kos. His only loss came back in October of 2012 when he was stopped in the seventh round by Luis Carlos Abregu. He’s bounced back pretty well though and is riding a four-bout winning streak heading into this fight. He’s also got a new trainer in his corner in Robert Garcia who was brought in to replace Jose Bonilla.
The 33-year-old Mayfield of San Francisco comes into the contest with a near-perfect mark of 18-0-1 along with 11 Kos. His best performance so far was a decision over Mauricio Herrera, who many ringsiders feel beat champion Danny Garcia a couple of weeks ago but lost on points. Mayfield says he prefers to wear down his opponents and go for the knockout rather than risk going to the judges’ scorecards.
Mayfield is confident he can stop Dulorme and claims that’s exactly what he’ll be trying to do on Saturday night. It might be easier said than done though since Dulorme has some fine boxing skills, an excellent jab, and can move around a ring with the best of them. Both boxers should be highly motivated since the bout is on national TV and the winner could eventually get a shot at champion Ruslan Provodnikov.
The 5-foot-7 Mayfield turned pro back in 2006 and also holds wins over Steve Forbes and Raymond Serrano. Dulorme has a three-inch height advantage at 5-foot-10 and made his pro debut back in 2008. He’s beaten DeMarcus Corley and Charlie Navarro by unanimous decisions along the way and feels he’s ready to take the next step against Mayfield.
These two boxers may be relatively unknown to the average boxing fan, but their contrasting styles should make for an interesting contest and hopefully an exciting one as well. Mayfield has the edge in power, but Dulorme’s not exactly a light hitter. However, his chin could be a question mark since he was stopped by Abregu. It’ll also be interesting to see how the drop in weight classes affects his performance. Look for Mayfield to eventually catch up to Dulorme and take the fight by a late stoppage.
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