By Srithar Visuasam, photo by Tom Casino / Showtime — Vic ‘The Raging Bull’ Darchinyan’s (31-1-1, 25 KOs) crushing display against Mexican star Cristian Mijares (36-4-2, 15 KOs) to unify the super flyweight division was a mind blowing performance that has caused shockwaves across the boxing world. Darchinyan, who captured the WBC and WBA belts to add to his current IBF title, becomes the first Australian to unify a weight division since Kostya Tszyu completed his trio of light welterweight belts in November 2001 against American Zab Judah.
Going into the fight as rank outsider, the Armenian born Darchinyan, 32, was expected to go down to the 27 year old Mexican glamour boy. The ever smiling, pretty faced Mijares was expected to box his way to a comfortable decision victory against a fighter who by many has been typecast as a walk up fighter with limited defense to trouble the world’s elite..
From the opening bell, Darchinyan stayed true to the formula which has yielded him world titles in multiple divisions as he pressed forward throwing a stiff jab, left hooks and looping rights to gain the WBC / WBA champion’s attention. Mijares appeared to be showing limited fire in return and by the end of the first round, it was clear who was controlling the fight, as Darchinyan delivered a crushing left uppercut to drop the favourite to the canvas. Mijares barely survived the round and for the next few rounds, the Mexican battled to remain on his feet.
By round 5, Mijares managed to start fighting his fight, and slowly weaved his way back into the contest. However by this stage Vic was already oozing in confidence and showed no signs of complacency as his tempered his aggressive flurries with periods of patience, illustrating his eagerness to control the fight and maintain his composure.
The last few rounds of the fight saw Darchinyan maintain this plan of attack and when the opportunity finally presented itself, ‘The Raging Bull’ took full advantage with a powerful straight left which stunningly finished proceedings at the end of Round 9.
The win for Darchinyan now stamps himself as the premier 115 pound fighter in the world and he should also expect to feature in the upper bracket of many writers pound for pound ratings. Just under 18 months ago, he suffered his first and only loss of his career, a 5th round TKO at the hands of Filipino Nonito Donaire in a defense of his IBF/IBO flyweight title. The wash up from this bout saw his fighting style being seriously questioned and his future in boxing doubted. Darchinyan has tonight dispatched any of these thoughts with a clinical performance, both offensive and defensive against one of the fight game’s most technically skilled boxers.
Since Tszyu’s unification in 2001, Australia has seen a number of world champion boxers, though all with short term reigns. These fighters include Anthony Mundine, Robbie Peden, Lovemore N’Dou, Gairy St Clair and Danny Green. The only exception in this timeframe was Darchinyan’s reign at flyweight which included six defenses.
In theory, Vic’s win should spark widespread news coverage and celebration across Australia. However, excluding the likes of Tszyu and Mundine, in recent years Australian boxing has received limited attention from mainstream media and if it stays true to form, Darchinyan’s achievements will only be briefly mentioned in television and newspapers.
Let’s hope that Vic’s efforts are not only celebrated by Australia’s diehard fight fans but embraced by a nation which has such a proud boxing history.