HBO Boxing After Dark Preview: Dulorme vs Abregu; Vazquez vs Quintero

By: William Holmes

HBO presents a Boxing After Dark card on Saturday, October 27 in Verona, NY at the Turning Stone Casino. Thomas Dulorme will be fighting in the main event against Luis Carlos Abregu in the welterweight division as well as a feature bout for the IBF Lightweight Title between Miguel Vazquez and Marvin Quintero.

While none of the fights on this card are currently big draws, the winner of these bouts will gain some more recognition in their quests to pursue bigger and better bouts.

Miguel Vazquez (31-3) vs. Marvin Quintero (25-3); IBF Lightweight Title

Miguel Vazquez will be defending his belt against fellow Mexican boxer Marvin Quintero. Vazquez has not tasted defeat since 2008, while Quintero has not lost since 2010.

Vazquez is the better known boxer and the defending champion. He won his title by unanimous decision over Ji-Hoon Kim in August of 2010. He is managed by Antonio Margarito, and his three losses came against headline pugilists Timothy Bradley and Saul Alvarez, fighters who are currently campaigning at higher weight classes. Neither Bradley or Alvarez were able to stop the much smaller Vazquez.

Vazquez is currently riding a ten-fight win streak since his 2008 defeat to Alvarez. He is not known for his power, as he only has 13 TKO/KO’s on his record and four of his last five fights have gone to decision. He hasn’t faced the best of the lightweight division, but he has beaten Daniel Attah, Ji-Hoon Kim, and Breidis Prescott.

Quintero will be three inches smaller than Vazquez on Saturday night, but his southpaw style may give Vazquez problems. He also has considerably more power than Vazquez, as 21 of his 25 victories have come by KO or TKO.

A close inspection of his record reveals that Quintero has not faced the type of competition that makes you believe he’s deserving of a title shot. He lost to Daniel Attah in 2010 by KO in the 2nd round, and he’s also lost to the relatively unknown Tyrone Harris in 2009 and Balam Castellanos in 2005.

Quintero’s last five fights have been stoppage victories. He’ll likely be outclassed on Saturday night and his best chance for victory will be to go for the knockout.

Thomas Dulorme (16-0) vs. Luis Carlos Abregu (33-1); Welterweight Division

Thomas Dulorme is a welterweight boxer to keep a close eye on. He’s only 22-years-old, and he’s already received a lot of hype as the next big thing to come out of Puerto Rican boxing. He won the Golden Gloves as an amateur in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. He was allegedly 140-2 as an amateur.

Dulorme has power, as 12 of his victories have come by way of KO or TKO. He’s already won the NABF and NABA USA Welterweight titles. Even though he only has 16 fights he’s already defeated the likes of DeMarcus Corley, Aris Ambriz, and Charlie Navarro. This will be Dulorme’s eighth fight in the past two years and he’s been incredibly busy for a rising prospect. This will be the first time Dulorme’s headlined a major televised boxing event.

His opponent Luis Abregu is pushing 30 and has considerably more experience than Dulorme. His only loss was to Timothy Bradley in 2010 in the light welterweight division.

Abregu also has exceptional power, as 27 of his 33 victories have come by way of KO or TKO. He’ll have a two-inch reach advantage on Saturday night. Abregu has not defeated any well known opponents since he started boxing, but he also hasn’t faced complete tomato cans throughout his career.

Unlike some veteran boxers, Abregu has not faced an opponent with a losing record since August of 2007, and only three of his victories came against opponents with losing records.

Abregu has won four fights in a row by KO or TKO since his lone defeat to Bradley.

Dulorme seems to be on the fast track to a title shot for a young and talented prospect, and he faces a tough test on Saturday night against Abregu.

Is Dulorme as good as promised? Dulorme should be able to answer most of those questions on Saturday night. He should be victorious, but don’t be surprised if Abregu makes it very competitive.