By Cliff Rold
A series of big wins had moved 27-year old Mexican Cristian Mijares (36-4-1, 15 KO) from relative unknown to a pair of major Jr. Bantamweight titles and appreciation as a new face in the pound for pound ratings before Saturday night. On the way to the ring, Mijares was all smiles, stopping to hug members of the crowd, almost playful. He kept the smile, cocky, during the pre-fight staredown at mid-ring and through much of the first round.
At the end of the bout, the smile, his titles and his station amongst Boxing’s best were gone in less than a count of ten, surrendered to the left handed power of 32-year old Vic Darchinyan (31-1-1, 25 KO) in nine one-sided rounds at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. Wearing a scowl to the ring, Darchinyan put together the finest performance of his eight year professional career, adding Mijares’ WBC and WBA belts to his own IBF title and silencing a wave of press who’d picked against him. He promised a knockout win in the buildup and delivered in dominant fashion.
Both men weighed in right at the division limit of 115 lbs.
The pre-fight narrative pitted Darchinyan’s offense against Mijares’ defense and the opening minutes unfolded according to script. Both southpaws, Darchinyan stepped into thudding right jabs and followed with harder right hands. It was the left though that made a statement. With less than twenty seconds to go, Mijares got caught leaning over his right foot and directly into a Darchinyan uppercut that lifted him up and backwards to the floor. Clearly hurt, Mijares struggled to his haunches at six and rose at eight, shaky but willing to continue. Darchinyan’s flurry in the closing seconds missed and Mijares escaped danger.
Darchinyan continued to tee off early in the second, beating Mijares to the punch with long lefts while the Mexican searched for his legs, blocking and slipping incoming fire. He began to find his legs at the midway point, still outpunched but timing a pair of counter right hooks which got Darchinyan’s attention.
Bouncing, focused, and sans a grin, Mijares fought better in the third but still lacked the offense to weigh the frame in his favor. Darchinyan flurried often and while many head shots missed, his left to the body regularly found the target. Mijares landed occasional straight lefts in the first half but offered little late in the round.
The offense improved in the fourth as Darchinyan’s output decreased and Mijares landed the jab more often, but a late outburst from Darchinyan again carried favor his way as the a hard left came in over the top of Mijares’ guard. Darchinyan returned to firing regularly in the fifth, slightly frustrated by Mijares’ elusiveness but unrelenting in his pressure. Mijares landed a combination late, arguably his first and best of the fight, and headed to the final bell having secured his closest round of the bout.
Mijares was the aggressor to start the sixth and a shift unfolded with the boxer setting the pace and the puncher moving backwards with single blows at a time. Near the minute mark, a Darchinyan left hook popped on the inside but the Armenian was rattled with a counter right hook seconds later. A straight left landed flush for Darchinyan with twenty-five seconds to go, but Mijares took it and shot the left back as both commenced to landing power shots down the stretch.
Darchinyan continued to fight going backwards as the bout’s second half got underway, looking first like he was attempting to set traps for counters and then looking a tad tired as Mijares left hands began to multiply on the chin of Darchinyan. Darchinyan dug deep in the final minute, planting and flurrying, taking the worse of an exchange of lefts before digging in with a pair of lefts in the final seconds to stun Mijares again and seize any momentum which could have been lost.
Bouncing and jabbing to begin round eight, Mijares absorbed a Darchinyan left uppercut in the first minute. A Darchinyan body combination brought him off his toes and led to an exchange of lead uppercuts before Mijares connected with a series of jabs. Mijares again ate a left hand to end the round but Darchinyan seemed to be showing fatigue and a sense of drama loomed as the bout headed to its final third.
The look of fatigue was merely a reload.
Darchinyan continued to punch with bad intentions in the ninth but initiated a clinch after a hard jab and left hand for Mijares landed. It was a deep breath well taken. A hammering left hand caught Mijares in the temple, hurting him yet again as Darchinyan piled on an extra pair of blows for good measure. Mijares weathered the storm and landed a combination but it was to be his final stand. With seconds to go until the bell, Darchinyan launched a missing left hand but found home with a right and a finishing overhand left, sweeping the blow across the chin of Mijares and rocketing him towards the floor. Mijares collapsed with his head striking the bottom ring rope before settling flatly into the mat. The referee didn’t bother with the full count, taking a knee and waving the fight over at the 3:00 mark of round nine.
All three official judges had Darchinyan ahead 79-72 prior to the final round.
Darchinyan had come into the bout as an underdog, but was leaving with two new titles and the biggest win of his career. He expressed joy of a personal kind at both. “It’s a very great time for me. I think…I’m sure I’m going to enjoy my winning with my old friends, with my family, with my wife and kid at home.”
He discussed his victory in strategic terms. “From the first round, I didn’t go stupid, I didn’t go for my big, big punches. I promised a half an hour before coming to the ring, I’m gonna’ show him I’m skillful, I’m smart, I’m going to destroy him and I’m going to knock him out.” Darchinyan also addressed the high numbers in the press who had picked against him. “It didn’t bother me; maybe helped me concentrate,” later adding, “to all the writers, did I keep my promise? Did I?”
He certainly did.
The win sets up a number of intriguing, profitable options for Darchinyan. The potential for an all-action classic with Mexico’s Jorge Arce (51-4-1, 39 KO) remains after Arce picked up his fifth win in a row on Saturday night on a separate Las Vegas since his own loss to Mijares in 2007. The chance for a rematch with the only man ever to defeat Darchinyan, IBF Flyweight titlist Nonito Donaire (20-1, 13 KO), was kept alive on the same card as Donaire stopped top-ten contender Moruti Mthalane in six.
Not mentioned directly by Darchinyan or his promoter, Gary Shaw, was the lone obstacle remaining in crowning Darchinyan the undisputed champion at Jr. Bantamweight, a showdown with WBO titlist Fernando Montiel (37-2-1, 28 KO). That fight would also present a thrilling option and history for a weight class that continues to thrive through 2008 with high-quality matches between the division’s best.
As a parting jest, Shaw added Darchinyan would even be willing to step up to 152 lbs. for a catchweight fight with Oscar de La Hoya, brining a laugh from both the fighter and TV crew. After a win like Saturday’s, Darchinyan earned the right to call out just about anyone.
In a bloody, one-sided Super Middleweight beating, 26-year old 2004 U.S. Olympic Bronze Medalist Andre Dirrell (17-0, 12 KO) put forth the latest in a string of thrilling offensive showings while picking up his fifth straight stoppage win at the expense of 32-year old Victor Oganov (28-2, 28 KO). It was Oganov’s second major step-up in competition and second knockout loss. Both men weighed in at 167 ½ pounds.
Immediately after the opening bell Oganov landed the bouts first big blow, a left hook that set Dirrell off balance. It may have been the last blow he landed for a full two minutes as the threat of the Russian’s power seemed to put Dirrell on alert right away. He responded with fury. Circling away behind hard left jabs, Dirrell began tagging Oganov with combinations and near the one minute mark appeared almost on the verge of a stoppage as Oganov did nothing more than cover up. A weak right, and then left, from Oganov worked him off the ropes and Dirrell, winded, held for much of the final minute. An Oganov left hook at the end of the round got his attention but Dirrell easily slipped and blocked the follow-up shots in the corner.
In a more measured second, Oganov continued to come forward with wild hooks as Dirrell moved away behind his southpaw right jab and the occasional straight right and an effective left hook to the body. Dirrell continued to outland Oganov in the third but was put off balance again in the first minute with a clipping straight right. A trio of lead lefts hands set Dirrell up for two hard rights to the body and the punishment mounted. In the finals seconds, Dirrell busted open the right eye of Oganov with a series of crackling left uppercuts.
The blood spewed from the eye between rounds and the bell for the fourth round brought an immediate summoning of the ring doctor to assure Oganov could continue. The doctor gave his okay and Oganov resumed a pattern of walking into power shots. All but abandoning the jab, Dirrell was all lead lefts and right hooks until a pair of Oganov body shots dropped Dirrell to a knee. Dirrell argued he’d been hit low but the referee declared otherwise, without logically then ruling Dirrell had been knocked down, and ordered him to continue. Game, Oganov continued to search for a fight saving bomb and ended the round watching most of those hopeful shots sail over the head and shoulders of the Flint native.
Oganov continued to charge in the fifth, his guard held high to absorb incoming hooks and uppercuts. Just shy of the one-minute mark, a left hook from Oganov echoed off the chin of Dirrell to little affect, but the American was clearly throwing less and with less power in his shots.
Fatigue was no issue as the sixth got under way. A lead left uppercut blasted beneath and threw the guard of an onrushing Oganov. Oganov provided a delayed reaction, freezing momentarily and then stumbling forward and towards the ropes. Another uppercut came crashing towards his chin, followed by a left hook. The referee jumped in right away, refusing to allow Oganov further punishment. The official time of the stoppage was :28 seconds of the sixth round.
The referee addressed the stoppage which some may have found a bit hasty. “The main thing is the safety of the fighters. If you see the replay, he took like a stutter step after the uppercut…He lost every round and he was taking some heavy blows.”
Dirrell reveled in the win. “I just knew everything I was throwing was landing. He’s a come forward puncher, a lot stronger than I thought…I knew the uppercut was getting ready to get him out of there.” Dirrell’s future plans weren’t touched upon, but he stated that he was now “number one,” a possible reference to the WBO ratings which prior to the fight rated Dirrell at #7 and Oganov at #6. The current WBO titlist is German-based Russian Denis Inkin (34-0, 24 KO).
The card was televised live in the U.S. on Showtime Championship Boxing, co-promoted by DiBella Entertainment and Gary Shaw Productions.
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