Thomas Dulorme To Danny Garcia: You Want It At 154? No Problem; I Will Move Up, Too

Danny Garcia promised Thomas Dulorme during an Instagram exchange Saturday that he’d knock out the Puerto Rican veteran within four rounds.

Dulorme hopes Garcia gives him an opportunity to prove Garcia wrong, even if it means Dulorme would have to move up to the junior middleweight limit of 154 pounds. Philadelphia’s Garcia (36-3, 21 KOs) expects to move up from the welterweight maximum of 147 pounds to junior middleweight for his next fight.

“Danny, you want it at 154? No problem,” Dulorme told BoxingScene.com. “I will move up, too. When I land the first punch on your face, that’s the moment you will realize exactly what you got yourself into.”

Las Vegas’ Dulorme (25-5-1, 16 KOs) has lost back-to-back, 12-round unanimous decisions to WBA interim welterweight champ Jamal James (27-1, 12 KOs) and Eimantas Stanionis (13-0, 9 KOs). The 31-year-old Dulorme pushed Lithuania’s Stanionis, however, in what was a step up in competition for the developing prospect April 10 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.

Garcia, meanwhile, decided to move up in weight following his own 12-round, unanimous-decision defeat to unbeaten IBF/WBC welterweight champ Errol Spence Jr. (27-0, 21 KOs) on December 5 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The 33-year-old Garcia, a former junior welterweight and welterweight champ, will be considered a small 154-pounder.

“He wrote on Instagram that he could knock me out in four rounds, but that the fight has to take place at 154,” Dulorme said. “That is fine with me. At 154 pounds, I will be a lot stronger. I have a lot of power in both hands and at any moment in the fight he could hit the canvas. A lot of fighters think it will be easy to knock me out, but when they get in the ring with me, they learn quickly that it isn’t like that at all.”

A victory over Garcia clearly would represent the biggest win of Dulorme’s 13-year pro career.

“I think it is a very interesting fight,” Dulorme said. “I have a lot of fans in New York and Puerto Rico, and he has his fans in Philadelphia and New York, too. Many people are sending me messages that they want to see this fight happen. I think it would be big in the New York area.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.