You can never deny that Vic Darchinyan is a resilient fellow. Three times we have seen the outspoken Armenian suffer a bitter defeat and each of those times he has bounced backed with a convincing victory, as was the case during his five-round technical decision over Yohnny Perez tonight at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles, California.
Darchinyan was coming off of a split-decision loss to Montebello’s Abner Mares last December, a bout that kicked off the first round of Showtime’s Bantamweight tournament, and at 35 years of age heading into the Perez clash many were unsure of just much he had left. Darchinyan answered his skeptics resoundingly, storming out of the gates against his Columbian foe and dictating the pace of the fight.
<--- Slideshow: Darchinyan prevails at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles
The action was intense from jump street and Darchinayan would register a knockdown off of a left hand in the second round to further heighten the drama. While game and willing, Perez was simply a few steps behind and ate plenty of leather from his stout southpaw foe.
A clash of heads in the fifth would cause a nasty gash above Perez’s left eye and the bout went to the scorecards, with Darchinyan prevailing on all cards 50-44. The ‘Raging Bull’ sees his record rise to 36-3-1 with 27 knockouts and his promoter Gary Shaw noted that he will be eyeing an immediate rematch with Mares as well as exploring other options.
Perez sees his tally drop to 20-2-1 (14) and appears to be winding down a bit with his career. His crowning moment took place a year and a half ago as he upset Joseph Agbeko to win the IBF bantamweight crown at the Treasure Island Casino in Las Vegas but he has been without a victory in his last three fights as the Darchinyan loss was preceded by a decision loss to Agbeko in their rematch and a heated draw to Mares last May.
