Darchinyan Destroys Mijares in Major Upset

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DARCHINYAN DESTROYS MIJARES

In a battle between fellow southpaws to unify the Super Flyweight Championship, IBF Champion Vic Darchinyan dominated and knocked out favorite Cristian Mijares to claim the WBC and WBA versions of the title in one of the most shocking results in years.

On paper, it looked like it would be an easy night for Mijares, who had been receiving pound-for-pound votes since easily out boxing Jorge Arce early in 2007. He was billed as a master boxer and, pitted against the predictable, straightforward brawler Darchinyan who was knocked out just last summer, should have been a heavy, heavy favorite if he was anywhere close to deserving of the praise he had been garnering.

Darchinyan had other plans, however, and completely dominated Mijares from the opening round in which he scored a knockdown to the ninth round when the bout was stopped after a second resounding knockdown.

Mijares came into the ring looking like he believed every word that had been said or written about him for the last year and a half. He smiled all the way into the arena and didn’t stop beaming until he realized he was in for the fight of his life – which became apparent before the end of the very first round. A brief confrontation during Referee Lou Moret’s instructions saw Mijares grinning and shaking his head at the much shorter Darchinyan and showing a complete lack of respect for his opponent.

The easily angered Darchinyan pressed Mijares from the opening bell, puzzling the Mexican champion with his awkward style and landed the first punch of the bout – a low blow to Mijares against the ropes. Darchinyan then winged a wild left over the top and surprisingly landed it on the supposed defensive wizard. Measuring Mijares with his right, Darchinyan banged in another big left as Mijares continued to eat punches that had no right landing.

Finally, almost midway through the first round, Mijares connected with his first punch, a right hook over the top. But the sturdy Darchinyan absorbed the punch and drilled Mijares with another jarring left in return. A wild uppercut managed to knock Mijares back, then Darchinyan landed a jab, followed by another left as Mijares did next to nothing in response. Darchinyan took advantage of Mijares’ activity to land a huge right-left combination.

After connecting with a pair of big left hands, Darchinyan connected on a big uppercut that dropped Mijares on the spot. Mijares laid back on the canvas, breathing heavily, before just beating the count by standing at nine. Vic fired several more blows into and around Mijares’ gloves before the round ended, but, even though he failed to finish the job, the point had been made. Darchinyan had come to win, and Mijares was far from the defensive whiz he had been billed as.

Mijares immediately held to start round two, but Darchinyan blasted him with a right hook for his troubles. After taking a left to the body and one to the head, Mijares beckoned Darchinyan on for more. A booming left to the head was what Mijares received from Vic, followed by an uppercut and another left as Darchinyan just couldn’t miss. Mijares nearly put a glove on the canvas to stay on his feet after taking one too many blows. He tried to slug back, snapping Darchinyan’s head up with a left, but he was eating even more punches the less he moved. Still, Mijares had made up his mind to fight and pounded on his chest with both gloves. Losing the punching battle, Mijares complained that Vic was throwing elbows and then uncharacteristically tried to intimidate Darchinyan by walking him down after the bell, though he still lost the round.

Mijares tried to box in round three, but Darchinyan beat him even there – again, absolutely shocking given the praise Mijares had been receiving – by counterpunching the Mexican with relative ease. All Mijares could do was urge Darchinyan to throw more punches, and Darchinyan continued to oblige him by doing just that. Because he wasn’t able to land a single meaningful blow in the round, Mijares tried to land one after it, prompting a second tolling of the bell to halt the fighters.

Mijares managed to put some combinations together to start round four but quickly shied away when Darchinyan cracked him with another hard left over the top. If the round was close going into the last thirty seconds, Darchinyan won it big by connecting on several big power shots that drove Mijares back into the ropes. The largely Mexican crowd must have been in shock when Darchinyan punished Mijares with four or five unanswered left hands midway through round five. While Mijares did fight back to end that round, he still wasn’t winning any rounds. By the sixth round, Vic was teeing off on his foe with straight left hands down the pipe, knocking Mijares’ head every which way but off his shoulders.

Round seven was by far the best of the fight and the only one Mijares arguably could have won, though he certainly took more damage by round’s end. Only in round seven did Mijares show any glimpse of the skills he was made out to have as he slipped Vic’s telegraphed punches and answered with his own hooks and left hands, at one point knocking a weary Darchinyan back with a right hook. But Darchinyan came back strong, pounding Mijares with hard lefts and uppercuts to finish the round. Mijares tried to get in Vic’s face again after the bell – desperation tactics from a desperate fighter – but he wasn’t intimidating Darchinyan.

The eighth round was more of the usual as Mijares got in one or two good shots for every four or five for Darchinyan. Vic drilled Mijares with a booming left right at the bell to send him back to his corner with something to think about.

The mercy knockout finally came in round nine. It all started when Darchinyan unleashed his best left hand of the night, jerking Mijares’ whole body sideways from the shot to the head. The crowd noise built in anticipation as Mijares held on, but Darchinyan pushed him off and hammered a left to the body, followed by one to the head. Mijares fought back, landing some combinations and showing heart, but Vic shrugged them off and chased a backtracking Mijares down with a straight right-left across the face that dropped the Mexican champion in a heap to the canvas, sliding alongside the ropes.

Moret counted to four before realizing Mijares was finished and waved the bout off with only seconds remaining in the ninth. The defeated Mijares laid back and removed his mouthpiece as soon as he saw the fight was stopped. Seconds later, he took a seat on his stool and hung his head in defeat as Vic was paraded around the ring, perhaps the most unlikely winner of the entire year as the new and first ever unified Super Flyweight Champion.

It is difficult to say whether Mijares was grossly overrated or simply unprepared for the wild Darchinyan, the latter of which is extremely hard to believe. While Darchinyan deserves praise for his victory, he only fights one way. His defense is porous, and his offense is as predictable as it gets. Vic is a warrior who comes to fight, but Nonito Donaire already demonstrated how vulnerable a fighter Darchinyan really is when faced against a strong boxer. At this point, all signs point to Mijares receiving too much praise for wins over the likes of Arce.

The best match to make in the lower weights, despite Vic’s claims that he wants to fight the much bigger Israel Vazquez, is a rematch between Darchinyan and Donaire. The first bout between the two was exciting and remains Vic’s only loss, a knockout he should be looking to avenge at some point, especially given the way he was able to dominate Mijares. For now, Darchinyan remains the Lord of the Super Flies.