By Cliff Rold
22-year old Welterweight Thomas Dulorme (14-0, 11 KO) of Carolina, Puerto Rico, posted an impressive first-round knockout of 26-year old late replacement Aris Ambriz (16-3-1, 8 KO) on Friday night at the Chumash Casino in Santa Ynez, California. It was the second knockout loss for Ambriz and Dulorme’s third first round finish. All of Dulorme’s knockout wins have come inside two rounds.
Both men weighed in well under the Welterweight limit of 147 lbs., Dulorme at 143 and Ambriz at 144. The referee was David Mendoza.
The lithe Dulorme crossed himself with his right glove and kissed the leather as he stepped out of the corner at the bell for round one. A stiff left jab landed as soon as Ambriz came in range, forcing his opponent backwards. Ambriz responded with a jab of his own, the sound on impact clearly in contrast to the weapon wielded against him.
Ambriz blocked a lead left hook and continued to jab, missing lazy right hand as the two fell in on each other. Separated, they resumed action testing each other with left hands. Dulorme opened up with a long looping right that missed and followed with a cuffing left. A right and left to the body followed. A pair of Ambriz jabs froze Dulorme power shots in mid-launch and the Puerto Rican took a step back to reset.
Dulorme snapped the head of Ambriz back with a jab, missed a right, and then partly landed a left hook. Ambriz circled away quickly as Dulorme stalked. A Dulorme right missed but he followed with a left, adding a left uppercut shortly after and missing another right. Dulorme was warned for a low blow but the warning was academic. The action moved to center ring and Dulorme prepared to make one of his bombs count.
Moving in behind a right, Dulorme exploded with a left hook to stun Ambriz and landed another right behind it with even more authority. In an instant, Ambriz was on his back, the echo of the hook still hovering above him. Ambriz was up at four, his legs a mess.
Ambriz charged forward as the referee waved him on, blasting Ambriz with a left but missing with a power volley afterwards as Ambriz fought to stay up. Falling out of the corner, Ambriz took a right to the temple and Dulorme finished with a final right to the chin. Ambriz crashed to his bottom, Mendoza waving the fight over as he stepped in behind Dulorme to hover over the fallen man at 2:12 of the first round. Mendoza could be heard telling Ambriz, gamely trying to rise, to stay down.
Dulorme scores the knockout after two straight decision wins, one over former Jr. Welterweight titlist DeMarcus Corley. Dulorme takes another step towards serious contention, already with ratings from three of the four most significant sanctioning bodies. Dulorme is rated #15 by the WBO, #9 by the WBC, and a lofty #3 by the WBA at Welterweight.
The current WBA Welterweight titlist is 34-year old Vyacheslav Senchenko (32-0, 21 KO).
The televised broadcast opened with a feisty battle at Jr. Middleweight.
Rugged 27-year old veteran Billy Lyell (24-11, 5 KO), 153, of Youngstown, Ohio, remains low on big wins but, once again, he aided the maturation process of an undefeated prospect. Over ten rounds, he made 22-year old Jonathan Gonzalez (15-0, 13 KO), 156, of Puerto Rico work for it every step every step of the way. Gonzalez emerged as the unanimous decision victor.
The referee was Benny Decroos.
Lyell was able to keep it interesting from the outset, landing stiff rights and lands between the varied offense of Gonzalez. Gonzalez was never able to relax, alternating between boxing and pressing with solid body shots. The scores were fair, even if they drew boos from the crowd, at 77-93 twice and 98-92. If history is any guide, Gonzalez may be on to bigger things.
Lyell, a former title challenger, was able to go the distance in a close contest with future titlist Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and gave good work to former Olympian Vanes Martirosyan and current contender James Kirkland. Lyell’s finest moment was a 2009 upset of then-undefeated John Duddy.
Gonzalez goes the distance for his second straight contest, forced ten last time out against another rugged veteran in Richard Gutierrez.
The card was televised in the U.S. on Showtime as part of its “ShoBox” series, promoted by Gary Shaw Productions.
Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel, the Yahoo Pound for Pound voting panel, and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com