CARSON, Nov. 1 ? At the kick-off press conference for tonight?s three-title 115-pound unification bout, Vic Darchinyan said he would not only stop respected Cristian Mijares, the overwhelming favorite and a top-10 pound-for-pound entrant on many lists, but he promised to out-think, out-box and beat up the talented Mexican stylist before knocking him out.
Few believed him. But after frustrating the usually unflappable Mijares with his unorthodox style, repeatedly beating the normally slick southpaw to the punch, and dropping the supposedly better boxer in the first round and again in brutal ? and final ? fashion in the ninth, it?s safe to say that Darchinyan has made many believers in the boxing world, including the 26 out of 32 boxing writers who picked Mijares to beat him in an informal poll put out by the Showtime network, which televised the bout in the U.S.
?I promised to show my skill and box and knock him out; I kept my promise,? said Darchinyan, who added the WBC and WBA titles to his IBF belt when Dr. Lou Moret counted Mijares out at 3:00 of the ninth round effectively silencing the Mexican fans among the crowd of 3,076 at the Home Depot Center?s outdoor tennis arena. ?A lot of reporters didn?t give me a chance, but I felt confident in my heart that I was a better fighter.?
Darchinyan, who improved to 31-1-1 (25), let Mijares know this early in the bout, stunning the smirking lefty with hooks before landing a straight left to the ear followed by a perfect left uppercut that dropped the crowd favorite hard just seconds before the bell. Mijares, who dropped to 36-4-2 (15), beat the count but walked back to his corner on shaky legs.
It can be argued that Mijares never recovered from the first-round knockdown but the 27-year-old Durango native?s pride kept him in the fight as he responded to the chants of ?Mexico!? and ?Si se puede!? from the Mexican fans in the crowd by pounding his chest and landing counter right hooks to keep the ever aggressive Darchinyan at bay.
However, the version of Darchinyan that fought tonight was not the reckless slugger who was shocking knocked out last year by Nonito Donaire. Darchinyan gave his foe enough respect to keep from doing anything foolish. Even when he clearly buzzed Mijares with some of the many left hands he landed to the face and side of the head, Darchinyan never became overzealous. It was measured, sustained punishment that he administered with a veteran?s accuracy and effectiveness.
Although Mijares got his jab working in rounds four and five, and even occasionally planted his feet to drop two- and three-punch combinations, Darchinyan still rattled him with his unorthodox movement and attack and surprisingly faster hands. The two engaged in even exchanges in rounds six and seven, but it was Darchinyan who landed the harder shots and it was Mijares who was uncharacteristically caught more often.
Mijares opened the eighth round on his toes, moving to his right in hopes of avoiding Darchinyan?s active and punishing left hand, but he was still unable to keep the confident Armenian off of him. Two things became evident by this point in the fight: Darchinyan has underrated cleverness and Mijares, who absorbed more power punches in this fight than he has any of his previous bout this year, has underrated toughness.
However, Mijares is only human, and as Darchinyan discovered last year, anyone can get knocked out in a prize fight. Darchinyan landed neck twisting left after left in the ninth round, causing Mijares to retreat and reel around the ring. In hot pursuit, the Australia resident missed three fight-ending lefts before finally catching Mijares with a bone-crushing left that put the talented boxer flat on his back.
Although the fight was going Darchinyan?s way ? all three official judges had him ahead by scores of 79-72 after eight rounds ? the ending was still shocking.
This is why they fight the fights.
?Everyone put too much into my loss to Donaire,? Darchinyan said. ?I don?t make excuses but I was not focused for that fight. I was very focused for this fight.?
It showed.
In the co-featured bout of the Gary Shaw Productions/DiBella Entertainment/KO Entertainment event, undefeated super middleweight contender Andre Dirrell stopped Victor Oganov in the sixth round of an often one-sided shootout to pick up the NABO 168-pound title.
Boxing from a southpaw stance Dirrell, who improved to 17-0 (12), unmercifully pounded Oganov with overhand lefts and right crosses in the opening rounds of the bout, but the 2004 Olympic bronze medalist expended a lot of energy as the Australia-based Russian strongman covered up right in front of him.
Although Dirrell continued to brutally punish Oganov with accurate pot shots and body punches while gliding around the ring, the Russian KO Artist stayed close to him, occasionally lobbing a wild hook or cross, and in the fourth round his ruggedness paid off when he dropped Dirrell with an uppercut and then chased the taller, faster, better talented boxer around the ring in an attempt to get some get back for the pounding he took in the first round.
But Dirrell recovered and continued to pot shot Oganov, who bled freely from a cut above his right eyelid, with frightening accuracy. At the start of the sixth round, Oganov, now 28-2 (28), walked into a hook and stagger-stumbled forward and into the ropes where Dirrell caught him with a left uppercut and another hook. Referee Ray Corona saw the opportunity to stop the fight at this juncture, an unpopular action to the crowd, but probably the right call in terms of Oganov?s immediate and long-term health.
?I was a little surprised the referee stopped it when he did,? Dirrell said after the fight. ?I knew it was only a matter of time. I knew he was going to go. I?m happy with my performance. The guy was a tough guy and this was the kind of fight I expected.?
