By Jake Donovan
 
Former flyweight titlist Vic Darchinyan began 2008 on the comeback trail, and ended the year as a unified three-belt champion and strong contender for Fighter of the Year.

With Manny Pacquiao, last year’s winner, not fighting until May, Darchinyan jumped out to an early start in 2009, adding to his impressive run of collecting junior bantamweight scalps with a systematic beatodwn of Jorge Arce. A grudge match three years into the making, Darchinyan dominated throughout en route to an 11th round knockout in their Showtime-televised main event.

The bout aired live from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

The crowd never seemed to know which way to root for much of the high-contact affair. The night began with Arce enjoying makeshift hometown advantage, with Darchinyan entering the arena to a chorus of boos. It was the only disadvantage he’d encounter all night, one he seemed to embrace as he bore a sinister grin on his face all the way to the ring and through the ropes.

Once the action was underway, the rabid fans in the house simply cheered the action no matter who was on the delivering end. There was plenty to root for, even if it meant dedicating its applause to the man they originally came to despise.

A boxing match never threatened to break out in this fight of little big man. Both fighters looked for openings in the early going. Darchinyan found one, a straight left that momentarily stunned Arce. A right hand found its mark for Arce, but was immediately countered with an uppercut for Darchinyan, who also landed with right hooks upstairs as well as straight lefts as the round came to a close.

The momentum flowed in the same direction in the second round. Arce couldn’t get anything going, as Darchinyan constantly beat the free-swinging Mexican to the punch. It appeared to be more of the same in the third, until Arce was finally able to establish his offense.

A double left hook to the body temporarily slowed down Darchinyan’s attack; two left hooks and a straight right hand upstairs turned the tide in Arce’s favor moments later. An accidental headbutt late in the round left Darchinyan with a cut over his left eyelid, eating another left hook to add to his troubles.

Arce brought forth the good fortunes into the fourth, starting things off with the weapon that brought him back into the fight, a left hook upstairs. Darchinyan struggled to rediscover his rhythm until a thudding body shot midway through the round helped swing things back in his favor. A straight left by Darchinyan left Arce wobbled and forced to clinch inside of the final minute. The sequence was followed by a teeth-rattling uppercut that left Arce on rubber legs. He survived the round, but lost his punch as he struggled to regain his senses.

Back in the driver’s seat, Darchinyan was renewed as the fifth began, boxing on his toes and almost daring Arce to come in. The round clearly belonged to the transplanted Armenian, who ended the frame with a flurry of punches, including one or two after the bell for good measure.

Sensing his foe was beginning to wilt, Darchinyan offered a brief chin check at the start of the sixth. Arce absorbed, but offered back little in return. As the round wore on, Darchinyan was throwing every punch with mean intentions.

Darchinyan began the seventh round with right hook upstairs, and basically spent the rest of the round taking Arce to school. The brutal offensive attack was mixed in with stellar in and out movement, always just far enough out of Arce’s punches to make him miss and counter the hell out of him in return. A mixture of fatigue and absorption had Arce stumbling around the ring at rounds end.

Things slowed down a bit in the eighth, but still heavily in favor of the unified junior bantamweight champion. Darchinyan was brilliant in mixing boxing and banging in the round, slipping Arce’s punches and coming right back with right uppercuts and straight lefts.

The first significant foul of the fight came midway through the ninth. Darchinyan was warned for holding and hitting, with the offending infraction drawing blood from behind Arce’s left ear. Both fighters were warned for roughhouse tactics later in the round.

Consecutive jabs landed for Darchinyan early in the tenth, a combination rarely seen in the fight to that point. Arce couldn’t do anything more than continue to absorb. Cut around both eyes and behind his ear, the concern at this point was no longer winning, but whether or not he’d last the full twelve.

His actions at the start of the eleventh didn’t suggest as such. A sequence as simple as freeing himself from a clinch resulted in Arce stumbling into the ropes. Darchinyan landed a straight left that once again had Arce staggering about the ring moments later, this time complaining to the referee about a headbutt, only to be told that the blood came from a punch. The cut over Arce’s right eye re-opened, clearly aggravating the Mexican who kept pawing at it while Darchinyan treated it like a bullseye.

Just as he was being told by his handlers that there was only one round left, Dr. Paul Wallace decided that eleven rounds of punishment for Arce, stopping the fight in between rounds. Arce was visibly upset, wanting to at least go the full twelve, but it instead goes in the books as a technical knockout.

The official time was 3:00 of round eleven.

Darchinyan continues to enjoy as great of a run as anyone in the sport not named Manny Pacquiao. The Armenian-born, Australian-based banger improves to 32-1-1 (26KO).

The win is his third straight, and now unbeaten in his last five since the knockout loss to Nonito Donaire in July 2007. The three wins he’s enjoyed in the past seven months have clearly been a case of quality over quantity, racking up one-sided stoppage wins over Dimitry Kirilov, Cristian Mijares and now Arce.

A rematch with Donaire was suggested, to which Darchinyan was open. Promoter Gary Shaw, who used to promote the Filipino before the two had an ugly split last year, shut down the thought of such a fight taking place. When asked about presenting the fights the fans want to see, Shaw suggested the likes of Fernando Montiel, Rafael Marquez or Israel Vazquez, perhaps hinting at a move up in weight for Darchinyan in the near future.

Wherever he fights in the near future, Vic Darchinyan will be a massive handful for any fighter. It was a painful lesson learned by Arce, who suffers his second one-sided loss in less than two years. A former lineal junior flyweight champion and two-division interim titlist, it appears that Arce’s glory years are well behind him. The Mexican dips to 51-5-1 (39KO), snapping a modest five-fight knockout streak in the process.

Rising lightweight contender Antonio DeMarco made a huge statement in the co-feature, emerging from a relatively close fight to force Almazbek Raiymkulov to retire in his corner after nine rounds in a spirited lightweight crossroads battle.

DeMarco stuck to his pre-fight promise of boxing in the early going, fighting at a measured pace in the opening round while Raiymkulov was in pursuit mode. A scattering of boos was offered by the crowd, hoping for a more spirited co-feature.

The fans should’ve exuded more patience, as action picked up in the final minute of the round. DeMarco found success with his jab and straight left, while Raiymkulov managed a straight right at the end of the round, only for an unintentional clash of heads to leave him with a cut over his right eye as he attempted to follow up.

Both fighters had their moments in the second, but DeMarco settled into a groove in the third. The straight left was his most effective weapon.  Raiymkulov never quite figured out a way to defend against it, other than to absorb or partially slip and counter with right hands to the head and body. Another clash of heads occurred, this one leaving DeMarco cut around the left eye.

Raiymkulov came out motivated for the fourth, pressing the action early in trying to face his younger foe into a brawl. DeMarco remained in his envelope, using his jab to get out of harm’s way, then letting go with consecutive lefts along the ropes. Raiymkulov regained control in the final minute of the round, but not without DeMarco sticking a few more lefts in his face.

The fifth round saw a greater variety of punches from DeMarco, particularly his right hook, including one that came as Raiymkulov overcommitted to a body attack. It was back to a more measured approach for the Mexican southpaw in the sixth, allowing Raiymkulov back into the fight, one that appeared to be even through the first six rounds.

A lazy jab by DeMarco paved the way for a brief Raiymkulov attack at the start of the seventh.  It was a round that would see the Kyrgyzstan get off to a terrific start and solid end, but with DeMarco frequently landing his jab in between those bookends.

Action picked up in the eighth, not necessarily good news for DeMarco, whose attempts to assert himself produced adverse effects. Raiymkoluv remained in his face whenever the exchanges took place on the inside, slipping DeMarco’s jab and coming back with power shots.

The same formula was attempted by Raiymkulov in the ninth, but DeMarco was hip to the game. Straight lefts rained down, and the jab was far more purposeful. A right uppercut and straight left hurt Raiymkulov late in the round, and DeMarco attacked like a harbor shark sniffing blood, trapping him along the ropes and landing a barrage of punches.

It would be the final sequence of the fight. Raiymkulov spent the entire rest period between rounds being examined by a ringside physician, who decided that he was no longer fit to continue.

The official time was 3:00 of round nine.

DeMarco improves, in every sense of the word, to 20-1-1 (14KO) with the win, his tenth straight. He is now 14-0-1 since suffering the lone loss of his career in 2006, and right on the edge of Top Ten contender status in the lightweight division.

Such was a status Raiymkulov once enjoyed, but those days appear to be over. The former Olympian falls to 27-2-1 (15KO), hardly a death sentence on the surface. However, at age 31 and having leveled off some time ago, a late career surge appears highly unlikely.

The show was presented by Gary Shaw Productions and Top Rank Inc.

Jake Donovan is a voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Please feel free to submit any comments or questions to Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com .