Pressure is on Salinas, says Dulin
Featherweight boxer Karen Dulin will be looking to use the underdog tag to her advantage when she steps into the ring to face fellow American Jennifer Salinas.Both fighters will face off on the undercard of tonight’s ‘All or Nothing’ WBC & WBA middleweight unification championship bout at Fairmont Southampton.With a record (2-11) far inferior to that of her rival’s (12-3), Dulin will undoubtedly enter the clash as the rank underdog — something which suits her just fine.“Being the underdog sits well with me because I’m pretty familiar with it,” Dulin said. “But as the underdog I don’t have any pressure on me.“I have a 2-11 record and she’s 12-3 so the pressure is on her. I don’t have nothing to lose and everything to gain.”Dulin, who tipped the scale at 129 and three quarter pounds at yesterday’s official weigh-in, is bracing herself for what she anticipates will be a very competitive six-round bout.“I think it’s going to be a great fight,” she said. “She’s not going to make it easy for me and I’m not going to make it easy for her.“I think it’s going to be a very competitive fight. We are both going to do very well in it and we’ll just see who comes out on top.“I respect her because she’s a phenomenal fighter and I don’t take her lightly in any way.”Dulin hasn’t done anything out of the ordinary in her pre-fight preparations which she’s content with.“I’m pleased with my preparation,” she said. “I keep my training pretty much the same.“I run and go in the gym every day, so my training has been much the same.”Even though she is the firm favourite, Salinas isn’t taking her opponent who has earned a reputation for going the distance against respected opponents for granted.“I’m not going to take her for granted by going by her record,” said Salinas, who weighed in at 127 and three quarter pounds. “Karen is an experienced fighter but her record doesn’t give her any justice as she doesn’t have a winning record.“However, she does have a lot of experience and she’s fought very tough fighters that usually knock people out and has gone the distance with some tough girls.”If all goes to script, Salinas, who is currently ranked seventh in the US and 41st in the world, hopes to secure a title fight in the not-too-distant future.“Overall, I have a winning record and the plan is to fight for a title,” she said. “So if I lose this fight it’s really going to affect that plan.“We’re looking at fighting two more fights for classification just for ranking and the third one will be a title fight. This is obviously one of the two we have left and so the pressure is on.”