CARSON, CA (Combined Sources)–Australia-based Armenian Vic Darchinyan became the undisputed world super flyweight champion on Saturday with a knockout win over Mexican Cristian Mijares in their title unification bout, adding two more championship belts to his collection.
Darchinyan knocked Mijares down with a left uppercut in the first round and finally finished him off in with a jolting straight left in the ninth Saturday night in their super flyweight title unification fight.
IBF champ Darchinyan dominated the match of 115-pounders from start to finish to take away Mijares" WBC and WBA crowns.
"I promised to show my skills and knock him out and I kept my promise," Darchinyan said. "I was always confident I was the best fighter. I had beaten guys that had beaten him."
Mijares, known for boxing skills and not power, said earlier that intelligence would beat strength. But he did not fight a smart fight, instead trying to mix it up with his hard-hitting foe.
"My heart came like a Mexican and I did not fight my fight," Mijares said through a translator.
A native of Armenia who lives in Sydney, Darchinyan had won all but one round on each judges’ card before he stopped the Mexican fighter as the ninth round ended.
As he had throughout the fight, the left-handed Darchinyan first caught Mijares with a right, then, as Mijares backed away, Darchinyan lunged and landed the left. Mijares fell backward onto the canvas and stayed there.
Asked about having an easy fight, Darchinyan said, "He’s not easy. He’s a good fighter. But I can box, too."
Darchinyan’s unorthodox style, which consists mostly of sticking his straight right arm toward an opponent’s face then following with hard lefts, seemed to completely baffle Mijares.
"I never fought his style," Mijares said.
The 32-year-old Darchinyan is 31-1-1, with 25 knockouts. Mijares, 27, is 36-4-2, with 14 knockouts.
There was heavy rain late in the afternoon that stopped before the fight card began, but attendance at the outdoor arena was just 3,076.
Darchinyan dictated the pace from the opening bell, landing several lefts early, then catching Mijares with the uppercut late in the first round when the two were trading punches in close quarters. Mijares’ knees buckled and he sank to the canvas.
Mijares connected with just one flurry the entire fight, that during a brief span of the fifth round, Darchinyan, however, was unhurt and unfazed.
In a prelim, unbeaten Andre Dirrell stopped Victor Oganov in the sixth round of their scheduled 12-round super middleweight bout.
Dirrell, the 2004 Olympic bronze medalist from Flint, Mich. ran his record to 17-0, with 12 knockouts. Oganov, a Russian who lives in Sydney, is 38-2. Both fighters 167 1/2.