One welterweight joined the elite in his weight class, the other will have to rebuild.
Jamal James fought as if he belonged in the ring with any of the top 147-pounders, easily outpointing determined, but overmatched Thomas Dulorme on Saturday at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.
The scores were 115-113 (huh?), 116-112 and 117-111. Boxing Junkie had it 118-110 for James, who won the WBA “interim” title.
The Minneapolis fighter was supposed to have fought Dulorme in front of his hometown fans in Minnesota in April but the fight was shelved because of the coronavirus pandemic. Turns out James (27-1, 12 KOs) didn’t need help from his fans.
The 6-foot-2 technician outperformed his 5-10 foe in every way. He used his long jab and follow up rights when he was able to fight from distance. Or he simply waited for Dulorme (25-4-1, 16 KOs) to charge forward and caught him coming in.
Either way, Dulorme took a lot of hard shots. The Puerto Rican was able to land on occasion – particularly to the body in the first half of the fight – but he couldn’t find his target with consistency.
Dulorme threw a lot of punches (771, according to CompuBox) but landed at a low percentage (115, 15%). James was 204 of 772 (26%).
After the seventh round, with Dulorme looking overwhelmed as he sat on his stool, trainer Joel Diaz raised his voice in an attempt to light a fire under his fighter, to get him battle even harder as the chances of winning seemed to be slipping away.
It didn’t work. Dulorme continued to work hard. He simply couldn’t solve the puzzle presented by a far superior boxer, at least on this night.
The 115-113 score (seven rounds to five) of judge Alejandro Rochin simply didn’t reflect what happened in the ring. He apparently rewarded Dulorme for his aggression even though it wasn’t consistently effective.
One could argue that even the 116-112 was too close. James outclassed Dulorme to win his seventh consecutive fight since he was outpointed by Yordenis Ugas in 2017.
Can James compete with the likes of Errol Spence Jr., Terence Crawford, Manny Pacquiao, Keith Thurman, Shawn Porter, Mikey Garcia and the rest?
Well, James already faced one top 147-pounder in 2017, Ugas, who won a unanimous decision. However, James took the fight on a few days’ notice. He said afterward that he lacked the focus to beat a fighter of that caliber.
On Saturday, he obviously was locked in mentally. That fighter, the one who dominated Dulorme, would appear to be a threat to anyone.
Dulorme?
He was only 1-1-1 in his last three fights but looked sharp, losing a close decision to Ugas, drawing with Jessie Vargas and outpointing previously unbeaten Terrel Williams. Whatever momentum he had is now lost.
He probably was competitive enough on Saturday to earn another meaningful welterweight fight but James, a stone’s throw from a world title shot, put a lot distance between them.
In a preliminary bout, junior welterweight prospect Omar Juarez (8-0, 4 KOs) of Brownsville, Texas, defeated Willie Shaw (12-2, 8 KOs) of Vallejo, Calif., by a unanimous decision in a six-round bout. The scores were 58-56, 59-55 and 60-54.
