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Showtime Championship Boxing Recap

November 1, 2008

Home Depot Center-Carson, California

There has been heavy rain in the greater Los Angeles area all day and more is expected over the arena during this event. Therefore, attendance at this show is limited to a few hardcore fans. The official number is 3,076, butsome of them may be disguised as empty seats.

IBF Junior Bantamweight/WBA/WBC Super Flyweight (115 pounds) 12-Round Championship Unification Match:

Cristian Mijares (36-3-2, 15 KO's, 115 pounds) (WBA/WBC Super Flyweight Champion) vs. Vic Darchinyan (30-1-1, 24 KO's, 115 pounds) (IBF Junior Bantamweight Champion)

Mijares won the interim version of the WBC Super Flyweight Championship when it was vacant via 12-round unanimous decision in a match with Katsushige Kawashima on January 3, 2007 at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo, Japan. Mijares' belt was eventually upgraded to the full version of the title when the previous champion, Masamori Tokuyama, vacated the belt to retire. Counting the defenses of the interim belt, Mijares is attempting to make his ninth defense of this belt.

Mijares won his WBA title from Alexander Munoz via 12-round split decision on May 17, 2008 at Auditorio Centenario in Gomez Palacio, Mexico. This is Mijares second defense of this title.

Darchinyan won his IBF title in his last match from Dimitri Kirilov via knockout at 1:05 of round 5 on the same August 2 show that featured Andre Dirrell's last match. Darchinyan, who unlike most Eastern European boxers are very strong technically, is a fundamental mess. He at times circles his hands in cartoonish fashion like Popeye does after eating spinach. Darchinyan's defense is many times poor to non-existent. However, in his last match against Kirilov he showed good head movement and counter punching in the first few rounds. Then Darchinyan felt he was in complete control and went back to being the same boxer that was the victim of The Ring's 2007 Knockout of the Year. Darchinyan became the wild brawler and finished Kirilov with a reckless overhand left that Darchinyan never saw land. That was because the punch was above his own head and simply thrown without aiming. However, with Darchinyan's amazing punching power even those reckless punches he does not aim can score knockouts. The entire recap of that event can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2008/8/6/showtime-championship-boxing-recap.htmlDarchinyan is making his first defense of this title.

Mijares is a hero in Mexico. He is set to start an acting career and embark on several other major projects outside of boxing in is native country. As Mijares walks to the ring, men pull him out of the aisle to hug him and women pull on him to kiss him.

The double champion's last match was a technical knockout victory at 1:05 of round 3 over Chatchai Saskul on August 30, 2008 at ArenaMonterrey in Monterrey, Mexico.

Mijares is The Ring's number 1 contender to their vacant championship at 115 pounds and The Ring also ranks Mijares at number 7 in their list of the best pound-for-pound boxers in the world.

Darchinyan talks a ton of trash. The last time he boxed at the Home Depot Center was the last time he faced a Mexican boxer, Victor Burgos on the undercard of Israel Vazquez vs. Rafael Marquez I. On March 3, 2007, Darchinyan beat Burgos into a coma in round 12. Burgos has since made a recovery, but the sight of the unconscious Burgos leaving the ring on a stretcher was scary to everyone who saw it. The talkative Darchinyan has promised to send Mijares to the hospital (at least for a check up) after this match and silence the crowd. The crowd for this event is composed of pretty much the samepeople that were there to see Darchinyan the last time.Then they just disliked the arrogant Darchinyan. Now they revile him. The original recap of Darchinyan vs. Burgos can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2008/8/5/preview-of-vic-darchinyan-vs-dimitri-kirilov.html

Darchinyan is The Ring's number 4 contender at 115 pounds.

At 27-years-old, Mijares is 5 years younger then the 32-year-old Darchinyan. Mijares has the height advantage standing5' 6" tall, while Darchinyan stands 5' 5.5" tall. Thedouble champion has the reach advantage with a 68" wingspan compared to the 64.5" wingspan of Darchinyan.Neither boxers' unofficial weight approaching match time is available. However, they should be roughly the same size entering the ring.Both boxers will employ the southpaw stance.

All of the official judges keeping score of this match from ringside are from California. The referee is Dr. Lou Moret.

Darchinyan's awkward style is dominating Mijares in round 1. With 20 seconds to go in round 1, a perfect left uppercut from Darchinyan leaves Mijares lying on his back on the mat. Mijares is in bad shape. Mijares successfully answers the referees count with 7 seconds to go in round 1. Darchinyan was urging his opponent to stand the entire time Mijares was on the mat. The Armenian born boxer wanted Mijares to stand so he could deal outmore damage. That is only the second time Mijares has tasted the canvas in his pro career. Darchinyan takes a surprising round 1, 10-8. Darchinyan wins round 2, 10-9. Mijares is trying to brawl with Darchinyan, which is the worst way to box the unorthodox southpaw. Mijares is normally a tactical counter puncher, which is the style that gives Darchinyan the most trouble. However, in this type of match Darchinyan is showing better hand speed then Mijares. The thought going into the match was that Mijares would have the speed advantage and Darchinyan would have the power advantage. Through the first 2 rounds, Darchinyan has had both the speed and power advantage. If Mijares does not return to his usual style of being a technical counter puncher, Darchinyan will eventually knock him out in a match up of brawlers. After 2 rounds, Darchinyan leads on my scorecard, 20-17.

After round 2, Showtime interview's Israel Vazquez. Vazquez says thatthere is going to be a Vazquez-Marquez IV in March or April. These men are literally going to end up killing each other in this rivalry. If Marquez wins then there must logically be a fifth match and what more can these boxers possibly prove by facing each other again?

Darchinyan wins round 3, 10-9. Darchinyan continued to land powerful left hands to take a close round 4, 10-9. After 4 rounds, Darchinyan leads on my scorecard, 40-35. All of the members of the press keeping unofficial score for Showtime have Darchinyan ahead after 4 rounds: 40-35, 40-35, 40-35.

Darchinyan wins round 5, 10-9. Darchinyan wins round 6 easily, 10-9. This match has been all Darchinyan. After 6 rounds, Darchinyan leads on my scorecard, 60-53. The press row scoring all has Darchinyan ahead after 6 rounds: 60-53, 60-53, 60-53.

Close round 7 that Mijares may have barely won, 10-9. Mijares' work rate early in round 8 may have barely won him the round, 10-9. Darchinyan appears to be tiring at this point in the match. After 8 rounds, Darchinyan leads on my scorecard, 78-73. All of the press row scoring still has Darchinyan ahead: 79-72, 79-72, 79-72.

A left hand from Darchinyan sends Mijares falling backwards onto the canvas for the second time in the match with 8 seconds to go in round 9. Mijares hit the back of his head on the bottom ring rope falling backwards on the knockdown. Mijares cannot be saved by the bell. The referee reached a count of 5 and with Mijares not close to standing he waved off the match making Darchinyan the winner by technical knockout.

The official outcome from the "Classy" Jimmy Lennon, Jr. is that: at 3:00 of round 9 the winner by way of knockout (that may be changed to a technical knockout) and now unified IBF Junior Bantamweight and WBC and WBA Super Flyweight Champion of the World, "The Raging Bull" Vic Darchinyan. The win moves Darchinyan to 31-1-1 with now 25 wins coming by way of knockout.

Darchinyan said in his post match interview that he backed up what he said he was going to do before the match. He now would like to collect the last major title at 115 pounds he does not have or move up to 118 pounds to collect more belts.

Darchinyan was completely dominant in this win. With this win he should move into The Ring's top 10 pound-for-pound rankings. Darchinyan promised to silence the crowd cheering for the Mexican boxer and send the crowd favorite to the hospital following a knockout. He accomplished those goals. The only major title Darchinyan does not hold at 115 pounds is in the possession of Fernando Montiel. If Darchinyan is serious about collecting all the titles at 115 pounds, Montiel will be Darchinyan's next opponent.

Mijares received the biggest payday of his career for this match, $225,000. He is going to need several good performances to approach that payday, again. Mijares was dominated by Darchinyan in every way in this match. He is a very good boxer and this loss should not hurt his drawing power in Mexico. However, Mijares may be best advised to return to Mexico to take some rebuilding matches main eventing major arena shows, then return to the United States on the undercard of a PPV in a high profile match.

This event is a skip depending on a persons preference. Darchinyan moves into the top 10 pound-for-pound rankings with his win and boxers that highly rated are not in action, often. However, none of the boxing on this show was competitive. Therefore, for people who are into seeing good boxers this is a show to watch. For people who want to see exciting boxing this is probably a pretty easy skip. Also, any show where the referee is interviewed should be downgraded some.