By Cliff Rold
Before stopping Irene Pacheco for the IBF Flyweight title in 2004, 32-year old Armenian banger Vic Darchinyan (30-1-1, 24 KO), who fight out of Australia, had to endure a bizarre delay between rounds late in the fight due to a fireworks show at the outdoor venue for the contest. Indoors on Saturday night at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Washington, Darchinyan provided all the fireworks anyone could ask for, dominating and stopping 29-year old Russian Dimitri Kirilov (29-4-1, 9 KO) over five rounds to capture his second IBF belt three pounds higher at Jr. Bantamweight.
It was easily Darchinyan’s most impressive performance in the three starts that have come since his first title loss in July 2007 to Nonito Donaire, a memorable fifth-round knockout. While avenging that loss certainly won’t be far from Darchinyan’s thoughts, his latest victory more likely sets up a fascinating unification battle with Mexico’s WBC/WBC titlist Crisitian Mijares (35-3-2, 14 KO) in the Fall.
Both Darchinyan and Kirilov came in slightly below the division limit of 115 lbs., Darchinyan at 114 and Kirilov at 114 ½.
Pressing forward immediately in the awkward, back-foot heavy, southpaw stance Darchinyan is known for, it didn’t take long for the first big left hand from Darchinyan to redden the face of the pale Kirilov. Another left crashed into Kirilov at around the one-minute mark, sending a shudder through his body, and two more followed flush in the final thirty seconds. The defending titlist took them well but wasn’t finding his own offense in return.
Showing no fear, Kirilov immediately went back into range to start the second, slipping the first big left attempted against him and landing a short left hook before tasting power again. A right to the body from Darchinyan forced Kirilov backwards and he pursued to land a double left to the body and then upwards. A long distance uppercut would further extend Darchinyan’s advantage as he walked forward with no fear of any incoming fire. Kirilov landed a nice left to the body but was forced to play defense otherwise.
Darchinyan continued to paste Kirilov with lefts in round three but Kirilov showed signs of life. As the final minute began, Kirilov countered Darchinyan with a perfect right hand and found two more before the round ended as the crowd sounded their approval. Darchinyan closed the round with a counter left but the possibility of a serious fight appeared to be forming.
There was no deceit in that appearance through round four as the gutsy Kirilov came forward immediately at the bell to land the right again. Outgunned and outpunched yet again, Kirilov was undeterred as he sought a solution to Darchinyan’s left for his best, if still losing, effort of the bout.
Guts couldn’t keep him on his feet in round five. A huge left hand early in the round and another, shorter version of the shot dropped him on the seat of his trunks near the ropes. He rose and took the mandatory eight count, clearly in trouble. Darchinyan made that trouble worse for him right away, pasting him repeatedly with lefts from one side of the ring to the other until, as Kirilov attempted to clinch, a final blast shuttled him to the canvas again. The count was not to be beaten twice and the referee waved his hands over Kirilov at 1:05 of the fifth.
Kirilov was as valiant in trying to explain the decisive loss as he had been while enduring it. “I took the wrong approach…I tried to hit him with one punch and it didn’t work. I wasn’t able to get off and do the work I could’ve done.”
The now two-division titlist was reflective. “I want to give this belt to my son. This is for him.” Darchinyan stated right after the fight in a nice moment of sentiment. Reflecting on the lessons learned since losing to Donaire last year, Darchinyan stated, “You have to respect other men punching you back.”
Given such a dominant and thrilling performance, talk quickly turned to what lies in his future. “I would like to fight Donaire. I fight anyone they put in front and..I would love to fight Cristian Mijares.” Pre-fight rhetoric from the promoters involved with Mijares and Darchinyan make that match both likely and easy to anticipate in a fantastic Jr. Bantamweight division that has yet to disappoint in 2008.
A disappointing 2007 victory against Curtis Stevens, on HBO no less, is becoming easier to forget with each passing fight for 25-year old 2004 U.S. Olympic Bronze medalist and professional Super Middleweight Andre Dirrell (16-0, 11 KO) of Flint, Michigan. The televised opener highlighted his fourth consecutive knockout victory since that bout as Dirrell patiently walked down the game Mike Paschall (17-1-1, 4 KO), 28, of Baltimore, Maryland, stopping Paschall on a nasty cut in the fourth round.
While entering the bout with an undefeated record, Paschall, 168 ½, was expected to play the part of opponent coming in. He quickly put outside expectations aside as an abundance of patience from Dirrell, 168, early on in the first allowed Paschall to land the first big shot of the bout with a straight left that forced Dirrell to take a step back and switch from a southpaw to orthodox stance. Dirrell returned the favor inside the final thirty seconds with a flurry punctuated by a hard left hook of his own.
Paschall, all southpaw all the time, again struck with the left early in round two. Dirrell in turn would again wait for his chance to respond with a hard right at the midway point which brought some taunts from Paschall. The action failed to pick up again until the last thirty seconds with a left from Dirrell cutting into Paschall’s body and a wild exchange in the last ten seconds getting a brief cheer from the paying masses.
Dirrell began the third as a southpaw firing hard right jabs, then back to orthodox with hard left jabs, and then back again. The right jab remained an intermittent fixture, predominantly to the body every five to ten seconds or so through the rounds second minute before an assertive right jab from Paschall began a tick up in activity. An attempted Paschall body shot just missed but a lunging right to the head did not, forcing a clinch from Dirrell.
Paschall must have liked what he found with the right, firing wildly early after the opening bell to round four. He continued to dive in, head first, searching for another big shot. He found one landing against him instead. A massive left hand to Paschall’s head split the skin open in the middle and just above the eyebrows. Blood immediately gushed from the wound, dripping freely down his face and nose to stain the pink trunks Paschall wore into the ring.
The referee stepped in right away to guide Paschall in the direction of the ring doctor who took quite a bit of time to inspect the cut. Despite pleas from Paschall, who stated and continued to repeat “Please don’t stop it…just give me one more round,” the doctor chose safety over valor, officially at a time of 1:32 in round four.
After the requisite shot outs to home, family and adviser Al Haymon, Dirrell addressed the sudden conclusion to the fight. “I was lining it up the whole fight…I saw the shot coming down the line, I threw it perfectly, and it landed.” Turning to the future, Dirrell stated that he would like a top ten opponent in his next fight before attempting a shot at one of the division’s available World title belts, the goal he referred to as “my dream.”
The current titlists below World champion Joe Calzaghe, WBA titlist Mikkel Kessler (40-1, 30 KO) and IBF titlist Lucien Bute (22-0, 18 KO) are both imposing tasks and Dirrell is wisely not being rushed. With only 16 fights in less than four years as a pro, a few trips into the top ten will allow a better idea of what Dirrell’s chances will be against such men if and when he gets a chance to make dreams come true.
The card was televised live in the United States as part on premium cable channel Showtime and promoted by Gotham Boxing Inc.
Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com