LOS ANGELES (AFP) Australian Vic Darchinyan knocked out Cristian Mijares in the ninth round here Saturday to unify the super flyweight world title in dominant style. Darchinyan, the International Boxing Federation champion, knocked Mijares down in the first round and finished him off late in the ninth with a big left that put the Mexican fighter flat on his back. Referee Lou Moret began to count, but when he saw Mijares was barely moving he waved the fight over at three minutes of the ninth. Darchinyan added Mijares's World Boxing Council and World Boxing Association 115-pound (52.1kg) titles to his IBF belt, becoming the first fighter to hold all three in the class. Armenian-born Darchinyan improved to 31-1-1, with 25 knockouts. The 32-year-old southpaw went into the bout as an underdog, but had vowed to knock Mijares out. To that end he started aggressively and displayed power that Mijares was unable to find an answer for. Mijares fell to 36-4-2, with 15 wins inside the distance, suffering his first defeat in 26 fights - a run stretching back to 2002. Darchinyan was ahead on all three judges' cards when the fight ended. "From the first round, I promised I would fight smart, would destroy him with the left," Darchinyan said. "I just thank God it wasn't like Burgos, because he took a lot of lefts, too." In the same ring at the Home Depot Center in suburban Carson, on March 3, 2007, Darchinyan beat Victor Burgos in a bout that was stopped in the final round. Burgos was hospitalized with brain injuries from which he is still recovering. Mijares made his appearance at the post-fight press conference, and said simply "No excuses. He's a great champion."
Mijares is a good guy and an excellent boxer,it'sjust Vic had him.Mijares will be back and win titles
I think Mijares will be back. He was hurt but he was back up soon after and just looked disapointed. It wasn't a Cotto-Margarito style beatdown. it was fairly one-sided fight which Mijares didn't win. He will pick himself back up, forumulate a gameplan and try and get his titles back. Like Pavlik-Abraham, Mijares-Montiel won't be half as interesting now.
Mijares will defintely be back; he'd a very good fighter indeed, but he's not much better than Navarro, for example, and there's no way of knowing he wouldn't get KOed by Montiel either. Mijares' defence is not the best, and he is there to be hit, the way he fights, all macho. He had a very good chin, for sure, but there's only so much punishment that he can take, from a huge puncher like Montiel, for example. Best of luck to him. I hope he comes back stronger and smarter. Great Champions always do, like Darchinyan has proved, for example.
True, but Darchinyan v. Montiel will be much more interesting than Mijares v. Montiel would have been, after last night.
