Thomas Dulorme’s loss to Yordenis Ugas still doesn’t sit well with the welterweight contender 2½ years later.
Dulorme “would love a rematch,” a fight that might become more attractive to Ugas if Dulorme defeats Jamal James in their WBA interim welterweight title fight. Puerto Rico’s Dulorme (25-3-1, 16 KOs) and James (26-1, 12 KOs) were supposed to fight Saturday night in the main event of a FOX tripleheader from The Armory in Minneapolis, James’ hometown.
The 30-year-old Dulorme naturally is more focused on facing James whenever the COVID-19 pandemic ends. Nevertheless, avenging a close, 10-round, unanimous-decision defeat to Ugas remains important to him.
“Ugas is a really good fighter,” Dulorme told BoxingScene.com. “He has earned the position he has in the welterweight division and a lot of people respect him for his abilities. But when we fought each other, I know I won that fight. The whole world knows I won that fight. It was a tough fight. It wasn’t easy, but the world knows I should’ve been given the victory.”
Cuba’s Ugas (25-4, 12 KOs) won on all three scorecards. The result of their August 2017 bout still caused controversy because referee Vic Drakulich deducted two points from Dulorme for low blows, one apiece in the sixth and 10th rounds.
Those points were the difference on the cards of judges Max De Luca and John McKaie, each of whom scored the fight, 93-92, for Ugas. If Drakulich didn’t take away those two points, De Luca and McKaie both would’ve scored Dulorme the winner, 94-93, and he would’ve won a split decision.
Had Drakulich not deducted a second point 30 seconds into the final round, De Luca and McKaie at least would’ve scored the bout even. Then their bout would’ve been ruled a majority draw on the Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor undercard at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Judge Richard Ocasio scored the fight 94-91 for Ugas, thus the point deductions didn’t determine the winner on his card.
“I’ve gone back and watched the tape,” Dulorme said. “Those weren’t even low blows. I watched it in slow motion, and you could see that they were legal punches. But I know boxing is a business and sometimes it just doesn’t go your way.”
Ugas also dropped Dulorme twice in the second round. Dulorme came back, however, to floor Ugas in the seventh round.
“I made mistakes in that fight in the beginning,” Dulorme said. “I came out real fast against Ugas and Ugas caught me because of the mistakes I made. That’s why I went down those two times. I was able to get up and after that I was able to make the adjustments. I was dominating the rest of the rounds, but the difference in the fight was the referee took two points away from me for low blows. If you take away those two point deductions, I win on the scorecards.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.