By Keith Idec

Suffering a knockdown with 10 seconds left in their 12-round fight forced Jessie Vargas to settle for another draw Saturday night, this time with Thomas Dulorme.

The knockdown Dulorme recorded evened their welterweight bout on the scorecards of judges Mike Fitzgerald and Mike Ross, both of whom scored their very competitive encounter a draw (113-113). Fitzgerald and Ross overruled judge Rey Danseco, who scored the action 115-111 for Vargas, and produced a majority draw in Chicago.

If Dulorme hadn’t dropped Vargas late in the 12th round, Vargas would’ve won a unanimous decision in the main event of a 10-bout card DAZN streamed from DePaul University’s Wintrust Arena.

Las Vegas’ Vargas (28-2-2, 10 KOs) now has back-to-back draws on his record. He battled to a 12-round draw with Adrien Broner in his last fight, April 21 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Puerto Rico’s Dulorme (24-3-1, 16 KOs) overcame a 10th-round knockdown and avoided a loss in his first fight since losing a 10-round unanimous decision to Yordenis Ugas (23-3, 11 KOs) on the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Conor McGregor undercard 13 months ago in Las Vegas.

Dulorme took command of a very competitive 12th round when his right hand knocked Vargas off balance and scored a knockdown, as Vargas’ right glove touched the canvas with 10 seconds to go in the fight. It was a flash knockdown, but it was a point Dulorme desperately needed.

Dulorme landed a left to Vargas’ body just after the midway mark of the 11th round. Dulorme’s left hook also connected to Vargas’ head later in the 11th.

A short overhand right by Vargas floored Dulorme with 1:28 remaining in the 10th round. Dulorme waited for referee Stephen Blea’s count to reach eight before he got up.

By the end of the round, though, Dulorme was pressing the action and throwing hard shots at Vargas.

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Dulorme’s left hook landed to the side of Vargas’ head about 50 seconds into the ninth round. Another left hook by Dulorme caught Vargas as Vargas backed against the ropes later in the ninth.

Dulorme’s right hand blasted Vargas with about 30 seconds to go in the ninth round.

Dulorme went after Vargas at the start of the eighth round, when he landed a hard left to Vargas’ body and a clean left hook to Vargas’ head. Vargas’ straight right hand countered Dulorme late in the eighth.

Blea warned Dulorme for a low blow at the 1:49 mark of the seventh round.

Vargas’ left-right combination rocked Dulorme about 1:10 into the sixth round. Dulorme’s right hand landed flush with just over a minute to go in the sixth.

Vargas stunned Dulorme with a short left hook late in the fifth round. Dulorme fired back and hit Vargas with a left hook and a left uppercut that left Vargas holding him against the ropes.

Vargas had a good fourth round, when he hit Dulorme with a flush left hook. Vargas also landed a right-left combination late in the fourth.

Vargas’ left hook landed with just over a minute remaining in the third round. Dulorme drilled Vargas with a hard right hand to the body with 10 seconds to go in the third.

Dulorme’s right uppercut and hard jab caught Vargas as Vargas tried to land a right hand late in the second round. Vargas suffered a cut over his right eye during that exchange, which Blea ruled came from an accidental clash of heads.

Dulorme threw numerous hard right hands in the first round, yet couldn’t connect. Vargas countered him with a left hook when there was about 50 seconds to go in the first round.

Vargas landed a right hand later in the first round, but Dulorme came back to hurt him. Dulorme’s left hook to the side of Vargas’ head left Vargas in a squatting position.

Vargas managed to avoid a knockdown and smiled at Dulorme as he stood upright and backed away.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.