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Showtime Championship Boxing Recap

August 2, 2008

Emerald Queen Casino-Tacoma, Washington

IBF Junior Bantamweight (115 pounds) 12-Round Championship Match:

Dimitri Kirilov (29-3-1, 9 KO's, 114.5 pounds) (c) vs. Vic Darchinyan (29-1-1, 23 KO's, 114 pounds)

Kirilov won this championship when it was vacant via 12-round unanimous decision over Jose Navarro on October 13, 2007 at Khodynka Ice Palace in Moscow, Russia. The previous champion was Luis Alberto Perez who vacated the title to move up to 118 pounds. Kirilov is making his second defense of this championship.

Kirilov is a Russian who was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, when it was Leningrad, USSR. He continues to live there, but is too young to be a true product of the famed Soviet boxing system. Kirilov is currently working with Freddie Roach in Los Angeles, California.

However, all of the blemishes on Kirilov's record have come outside of Russia. Kirilov is 20-0 in his native Russia. Kirilov is a respectable 9-3-1 outside of Russia. However, he is 0-3-1 in his last 4 matches outside of Russia. Kirilov has not won a match outside of Russia, since he defeated Redha Jean Abbas via 6 round decision on February 24, 2001 at York Hall in London, England. Despite training in Los Angeles, Kirilov has never won a match in the United States.

The champion's last match was against Cecilio Santos on February 28, 2008 at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City, New York. Kirilov escaped the match with his title via champion's advantage when the match ended in a 12-round majority draw.

Kirilov is The Ring's number 6 contender to their vacant championship at 115 pounds.

Darchinyan had a great amateur boxing career representing the former Soviet Republic of Armenia at the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympiad.

Despite beginning his boxing careerin the Soviet boxing system, Darchinyan has a very unorthodox style, that is uncharacteristic of Eastern European boxers. He holds his hands very low. His unorthodox style can best be described as a technical nightmare that makes him very hittable, and would be destructive for any other boxer to try to imitate. It is somewhat similar to what the UFC's Chris Leben does striking.

This is Darchinyan's first match in the United States since he lost his IBF and IBO championships at 112 pounds to Nonito Donaire via technical knockout at 1:38 of round 5 on July 7, 2007 at Harbour Yard Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Darchinyan's night was ended by a perfect left hook counter punch from Donaire. That punch earned Donaire The Ring's 2007 Knockout of the Year and 2007 Upset of the Year. Darchinyan entered the match asThe Ring'snumber2 ranked contender to their vacant championship at 112 pounds, while Donaire entered the match unranked by The Ring and without a quality win on his record. Showtimesaid before the match that Donaire was there to lose in spectacular fashion and set up a big money match between Darchinyan and Cristian Mijares or Jorge Arce. The original recap of that match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2008/8/5/recap-of-darchinyan-vs-nonito-donaire.html

Darchinyan's last match was a controversial 12-round draw against Z Gorres on February 2, 2008 at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel in Cebu City, Philippines. After the decision was read the scene in the ring resembled an episode of Nitro as water bottles and debris flew at the ring from the crowd. That match was to determine the next mandatory challenger to this title and despite the fact the match was a draw, Darchinyan is getting the title shot.

Darchinyan is The Ring's number 9 contender at 115 pounds.

At 29-years-old, Kirilov is 3 years younger then the 32-year-old Darchinyan. Darchinyan has the height advantage standing 5' 5.5" tall, while Kirilov stands 5' 4" tall. Both boxers have a 64.5" wingspan. Neither boxers' unofficial weight approaching match time is available. However, the IBF requires boxers to weigh-in within 10 pounds of their official weigh-in weights the day of thematch toensure the boxers are relatively the same size when they enter the ring.The champion will employ the orthodox stance, and the challenger will employ the southpaw stance.

Two of the judges keeping official score of this match from ringside are from Washington, while the other is from California. The referee is Earl Brown.

Darchinyan's powerful left hand dominates round 1, 10-9. Kirilov is considered a polished technical boxer, however his technique in round 1 is a mess. The champion is standing in the pocket and circling towards Darchinyan's left hand, with his (Kirilov's) lead left hand down. This is giving Darchinyan an opportunity to land free power shots to Kirilov's unprotected face. Landing free power shots, Darchinyan appears to have hurt Kirilov already in round 1. Kirilov will need to make immediate defensive adjustments or Darchinyan will put him to sleep in a few rounds. Darchinyan has used the time away from American television to get a lot better. He is jabbing potentially better then he ever has in this match. In round 2, Darchinyan who has historically neglected body punching, devastated Kirilov with the best body punches the Armenian may have ever thrown. Darchinyan controls round 2 from bell to bell to win it, 10-9. To start round 3, Kirilov's left eye is beginning to show severe swelling from a Darchinyan left hand he took in round 1. Darchinyan wins round 3 by continuing to landpower punches, 10-9. Kirilov will not be able to take much more of this. Darchinyan is getting even more technically sloppy, though. The challenger's confidence has him lunging in recklessly trying to land the straight left. That is how Donaire caught him with the counter punch to score the knockout of the year. Darchinyan easily wins round 4, 10-9. After 4 rounds, Darchinyan leads on my scorecard, 40-36. All 3 members of the press keep unofficial score of this match from ringside for Showtime have Darchinyan ahead after 4 rounds, 40-36.

With 2:32 to go in round 5, a left hand has Kirilov staggering against the ropes, and finally going down to his backside on the canvas. Kirilov successfully answers the referee's count to continue with 2:22 to go in the round. A wild lefthand that Kirilov never saw sends the Russian to the mat for the second time in the round with 2:07 to go in the round. The 3 knockdown rule is not in effect. Kirilov made it to a knee at the count of 3. However, he was a little shaky when he took his hand off the canvas to try and stand. Therefore, with discretion being the better part of valor, Kirilov decided to stay down on his knee for the referee to finish the 10-count. That makes Darchinyan the winner and new champion via knockout.

The final outcome for the "Classy" Jimmy Lennon, Jr. is that: at 1:05 of round 5 the winner by way of knockout and new IBF Junior Bantamweight Champion of the World, "The Raging Bull" Vic Darchinyan. The win moves Darchinyan to 30-1-1 with 24 of those wins coming by way of knockout.

Kirilov said in his post match interview that he is okay. The former champion then explained how he ignored everything his corner had told him and boxed the absolute wrong match, which is why he lost.

Darchinyan said in his post match interview that he, too never saw the punch that knocked out Kirilov. The new champion was throwing punches wildly with his head down and one caught Kirilov solidly to end the match. Darchinyan said he would like a title unification match with Cristian Mijares. He would also like a rematch with Donaire.

Gary Shaw is now going to give a post match interview. Apparently, that interview was canceled while Jim Gray was talking to Darchinyan and seconds from going to Shaw. Have to wonder if the falling out between Shaw and EliteXC had anything to do with that last second change.

Darchinyan looked better then ever in this win. Following this victory The Ring has moved him up to being their number 4 contender, to their still vacant championship at 115 pounds.Darchinyan still has numerous technical flaws. His next match appears to be a title unification match with Mijares, because of some promotional issues that will keep him away from Donaire for a while. That match will headline a Showtime Championship Boxing card and be very entertaining.

Kirilov was bad in this match. The Ring dropped Kirilov to the rank of the number 9 contender at 115 pounds.Kirilov had never been knocked out before this match.Kirilov had been known for a strong chin, throwing combinations, and solid fundamentals. The Russian showed very little of that here. His next move obviously is to return to piling up wins in Russia.Once Kirilov has run off a string of consecutive victories in Russia, and potentially picked up a title along the way, he may be ready to try boxing on foreign soil, again.

This event is a pretty easy skip. The main event was completely one-sided. Darchinyan was impressive, but the lack of resistance Kirilov offered made for an average match.