Dulorme: Bet On Me, You'll Win Nice Chunk Of Money

By Keith Idec

Thomas Dulorme doesn’t care about being viewed as such a big underdog against Terence Crawford.

Handicappers have installed the undefeated Crawford (25-0, 17 KOs), of Omaha, Nebraska, as an 8-1 favorite over Puerto Rico’s Dulorme (22-1, 14 KOs). Their 12-round fight for the vacant WBO junior welterweight title will open HBO’s split-site, “Boxing After Dark” doubleheader Saturday night (9:45 p.m. ET/6:45 p.m. PT) from the University of Texas at Arlington’s College Park Center.

“I’m not surprised by the odds because everybody thinks this is a very comfortable fight for Crawford,” Dulorme said through a translator during a conference call Monday. “But I will say this – those who bet with me as a winner of the fight are going to take home a nice chunk of money.”

The 25-year-old Dulorme has won six straight fights since his lone loss, a seventh-round technical knockout defeat to Argentina’s Carlos Abregu (36-2, 29 KOs) in October 2012. The 27-year-old Crawford, a former WBO lightweight champion, is an emerging star and the reigning Boxing Writers Association of America’s “Fighter of the Year.”

The Crawford-Dulorme bout will be followed by the highly anticipated main event, a 12-round junior welterweight bout between Argentina’s Lucas Matthysse (36-3, 34 KOs, 1 NC) and Russia’s Ruslan Provodnikov (24-3, 17 KOs) at Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, N.Y.

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.