Darchinyan Destroys Mijares in 9

IBF super flyweight world boxing champion Vic “Raging Bull” Darchinyan added the WBC/WBA world titles to his collection with a brutal 9th round knockout of Mexican Cristian Mijares on Saturday night at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California, televised in the USA on Showtime Championship Boxing.

The 32 year-old Armenian/Australian Darchinyan 31-1-1 (25) dropped Mijares 35-4-2 (13) in round 1 with an uppercut and dominated just about every other round, before knocking him out with a straight left hand in round 9. The fight was stopped at the 3:00 minute mark by referee Lou Moret.

Going into the unification match, Mijares was rated by The Ring magazine as the No.7 best boxer in the world pound for pound. Darchinyan simply destroyed him.

“From the first round I didn’t get stupid,” Darchinyan said. “I promised to deliver a skillful, smart fight. I promised to destroy him and knock him out. And I did that.

“Each round I caught him with hard left hands. Thank God nothing happened to him like what happened to (Victor) Burgos, because he too took a lot of lefts.

The Armenian champion promised fans and critics leading into the fight that he would defeat Mexico’s Mijares and continue his quest to become the undisputed super flyweight champion.

“To all the writers and reporters in boxing, did I keep my promise?” Darchinyan asked. “What about my pound-for-pound ranking? Mijares was No. 6.”

Mijares never seemed comfortable against the sharp Darchinyan. The crafty Mijares, who started the fight with a smirk that Darchinyan quickly wiped away with the first-round knockdown, struggled to establish his jab and get into a rhythm.

“I’m beyond disappointed,” Mijares said. “I was supposed to use more combinations. I was supposed to box him.

“I fought with my heart and not my head. I fell trap to his style.”