Promoters You Know and Fighters You Should Get To Know on the Pacquiao-Marquez Undercard

by Eric Raskin

Take the plastic off the furniture and bust out the fancy bean dip, because you have a couple of celebrity guests coming into the house for your pay-per-view party on December 8. Two stars known far better by their nicknames than their given names, 50 Cent and Snooki, are promoting fighters on the Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez 4 undercard. But, as always, the boxers in action are the real stars of the show, and this undercard features a battle of unbeatens, a talent knocking on the door of the pound-for-pound list, some Filipino flavor, and even the pro debut of one of the most decorated American amateurs ever. That would be 20-year-old lightweight Jose Ramirez, who will open the show in a scheduled four-rounder. Here’s a look at the three 12-rounders that will follow:

Yuriorkis Gamboa (21-0, 16 KOs) vs. Michael Farenas (33-3-4, 25 KOs), 12 Rounds, Junior Lightweights

Are you suffering from Gamboa withdrawal? It’s been 15 long months since the Cuban “Cyclone” kicked up dust in a prize ring, but he’s finally back and ready to show off his extraordinary combination of speed and power against Filipino southpaw Farenas. Gamboa sat on the shelf due to promotional squabbles, and his promotional status remains a major talking point because rapper 50 Cent is now officially the man guiding his career. This bout marks Fiddy’s promoting debut, and it marks the 31-year-old Gamboa’s first major fight at junior lightweight following an impressive run atop the featherweight division. Gamboa, whose 2010 defeat of Orlando Salido keeps looking better with the passage of time, is a healthy favorite over the unproven Farenas (who is trained by Pacquiao assistant Buboy Fernandez). But the Cuban also has a troubling tendency to find himself on the canvas, and with 25 knockouts among his 33 victories, Farenas can pop a little bit. Blink at your own peril.

Miguel Vazquez (32-3, 13 KOs) vs. Mercito Gesta (26-0-1, 14 KOs), 12 Rounds, Lightweights

Pacquiao and Farenas aren’t the only Filipino southpaws in action, as Gesta will get in on the fun in pursuit of his first pro title in what looks like a pick-’em fight against the crafty Mexican Vazquez. The 25-year-old Vazquez was viewed by some as the top dog in the lightweight division until a rocky outing against Marvin Quintero in October – which ended with Vazquez winning a split decision – socked his stock. He gets a chance at redemption against Gesta, who is also 25, hasn’t faced the level of competition that Vazquez has, but has shown flashes of potential on his way up. Vazquez is four inches taller at 5’11”, so expect the stocky challenger known as “No Mercy” to try to fight at close quarters and score with bodyshots and short uppercuts. This will come down to which man is able to dictate the style of the fight; the more action-packed it is, the better that will be for Gesta.

Javier Fortuna (20-0, 15 KOs) vs. Patrick Hyland (27-0, 12 KOs), 12 Rounds, Featherweights

New York-based Irishman Hyland has Snooki in his corner … and a “situation” in front of him. The 23-year-old Dominican Fortuna is one of boxing’s hottest prospects, particularly on the heels of his dazzling two-round destruction of veteran Cristobal Cruz this past July. He represents a major step up in class for Hyland who, despite having a Jersey Shore star for a promoter, is a relative unknown. But with two undefeated records on the line, Fortuna and Hyland might just produce a brawl that puts even the best Ronnie vs. Sammi fight to shame.

Abregu Denies Dulorme Via Seventh-Round Knockout

by Eric Raskin

Thomas Dulorme - Photo Credit: Ed Mulholland

As 1940s and ’50s major league pitcher Preacher Roe once famously said (and as the film The Big Lebowski more famously adapted), “Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes the bear eats you.” Highly touted 22-year-old Puerto Rican welterweight prospect Thomas Dulorme stared down the bear on Saturday night in the form of Argentine bruiser Carlos Abregu. And, as happens sometimes when talented but inexperienced fighters are willing to step up and take risks, the bear ended up with a full belly.

Abregu (34-1, 28 KOs) scored a violent knockdown in the third round, then finished off Dulorme (16-1, 12 KOs) in the seventh with another knockdown that prompted the younger fighter’s corner to halt the bout. The end came at the 2:35 mark of round seven at Turning Stone Casino in Verona, New York.

The Dulorme bandwagon will empty quickly because of a single unexpected defeat; that’s the way things tend to go in sports these days. But it’s not necessarily a fair or even correct response. This fight didn’t expose Dulorme as a fraud. It merely exposed him as a fighter with a lot of room to improve, particularly defensively. And it happened because Abregu was a high hurdle for any developing fighter to clear, a heavy-handed, in-his-prime warrior who had only lost once in 34 previous pro bouts, against the excellent Timothy Bradley.

“We analyzed [Dulorme], and we saw that he was too young,” Abregu said afterward when asked how he scored the mild upset. “Maybe with time, he could be a great fighter.”

Read More at HBO.com

Prospects and Power on Tap for Saturday’s Triple-Header

by Kieran Mulvaney

Timothy Bradley, Luis Carlos Abregu - Photo Credit: Will Hart

Following the “rock’em sock ‘em robots” performance for the ages by Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado, and the technical precision and punching power of Nonito Donaire, HBO’s Boxing After Dark returns on Saturday with a triple header featuring some of the sport’s more promising prospects, as well as some contenders who have been knocking on the door and looking for a breakthrough.

Tomas Dulorme  (16-0, 12 KOs) v Luis Carlos Abregu (33-1, 27 KOs), welterweights

Puerto Rican Dulorme is widely regarded as one of the brightest prospects in boxing. He brings blinding fast hand speed with one-punch knockout power and a body attack that some have compared to that of countryman Miguel Cotto.  But he faces a big step up in class and experience when he takes on hard-hitting Argentine Abregu, whose only loss was a decision to then-junior welterweight titlist Timothy Bradley, and who has won four in a row since then. This will go a long way toward showing us whether Dulorme is the real deal.

Mauricio Herrera (18-2, 7 KOs) v Karim Mayfield (16-0-1, 10 KOs), junior welterweights

The last time we saw Herrera, he was in a fantastic action fight with Mike Alvarado that was a Fight of the Year candidate until Alvarado’s battle with Brandon Rios usurped all other contenders. Herrera came out on the losing end of that contest, but the bout went to the scorecards and the decision was close. He feels that level of experience and quality of opposition will prove the difference against the heralded but relatively untested Mayfield.

Miguel Vazquez (31-3, 13 KOs) v Marvin Quintero (25-3, 21 KOs), lightweights

Vazquez turned professional against a young fellow Mexican by the name of Saul Alvarez, and dropped a four-round split decision. Since then, his only defeats in 33 fights have been in a rematch to Alvarez, now a junior middleweight titlist, in which Vazquez went 10 pounds above his normal weight, and to Tim Bradley. He has held a lightweight title since August 2010 and was the first man to hang a loss on the record of Air Khan’s nemesis Breidis Prescott. Quintero has knockout power, but he can also be knocked out – all three of his losses have been by stoppage, two of them within the first two rounds. As a result, one way or the other, this could be an explosive start to the evening.

CompuBox Analysis: Vazquez vs. Quintero

On a night where contrasting styles are pitted against each other, the IBF lightweight title match between the defender Vazquez and the challenger Quintero is the most stark. Vazquez prefers to operate at long range while Quintero is at his best when he brawls. Vazquez is a right-handed stylist while Quintero is a southpaw stalker. At 5-10 with a 72-inch wingspan, Vazquez's body is built for speed while the squat 5-7 Quintero has a 65-inch reach made for the trenches.

The gulf between their approaches is as evident as those between red states and blue states. Which method will cause the other man's madness? Their CompuBox histories offer the following clues:

See more Compubox analysis of Miguel Vazquez vs. Marvin Quintero on HBO.com.