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Showtime Championship Boxing Recap

February 7, 2009

The Pond (Honda Center)-Anaheim, California

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

Vic Darchinyan (31-1-1, 25 KO's, 115 pounds) (c) vs. Jorge Arce (51-4-1, 39 KO's, 115 pounds)

Darchinyan won his IBF Junior Bantamweight Championship from Dimitri Kirilov via technical knockout at 1:05 of round 5 on August 2, 2008. The unorthodox Darchinyan finished Kirilov with a wild overhand left that the Armenian never saw connect. The original recap of that match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/2/26/recap-of-vic-darchinyan-vs-dimitri-kirilov.html Darchinyan is making his second defense of this title.

Darchinyan won the WBA and WBC Super Flyweight Championships from Cristian Mijares in his last match. The match won several awards for upset of the year. (That is ironic, because Darchinyan was on the wrong side of The Ring's 2007 Upset of the Year, when he was knocked out by Nonito Donaire.) Mijares entered the match ranked number 7 on The Ring's list of top pound-for-pound boxers in the world, and Darchinyan was boxing for the first time in the United States since the loss to Donaire. Mijares came intothe Home Depot Center on November 1, 2008 as a hero. As he walked to the ring, men were literally pulling Mijares out of the aisle to hug him and women were grabbing the boxer to kiss him as he walked to the ring. Meanwhile, Darchinyan was vociferously booed after promising to send Mijares to the hospital. Considering the last time Darchinyan had boxed at the Home Depot Center he had done just that to another Mexican boxer, beating Victor Burgos into a several month long coma, these remarks did not sit well with the fans attendance. Especially since the crowd composed mostly of hardcore Mexican boxing fans was likely composed of many of the same fans thatwere in the stands for Darchinyan's last outing in Carson, California.

Unfortunately for the Los Angeles area crowd, Darchinyan did what good heels do to get over, soundly beat the babyface. Darchinyan dropped Mijares to the mat with a perfect left uppercut with 20 seconds to go in round 1. It was only the second time in Mijares' 42 match pro career he had been down. The bell saved a shocked Mijares from being finished in round 1. The technical boxing Mijares then decided to brawl with the more powerful Darchinyan, losing the next several rounds as the outcome became obvious. Finally with 8 seconds to go in round 9, Darchinyan landed the inevitable left hand that sent Mijares down for the knockout. Then Darchinyan, who rivals England's David Haye for the spot of best trash talker in boxing, bragged to the crowd in his post match interview about delivering on his promise to send Mijares to the hospital. The full recap of that match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/2/5/recap-of-vic-darchinyan-vs-cristian-mijares.html Darchinyan is making his first defense of these titles.

Darchinyan had a decorated amateur boxing career that culminated when he represented his native Armenia at the 2000 Sydney Olympiad in the 112 pound division.

ESPN.com described Darchinyan as a boxer who appears to use the Iron Sheik as a role model. Darchinyan is hated in Los Angeles and has been working overtime to build up his heel heat for this match. The boxer now hailing from Australia has promised to punish Arce like he punished Mijares. Darchinyan is not predicting an early knockout in this match. Instead, Darchinyan says he will hurt Arce early. Then let Arce recover, so he can hurt him some more. Only at that point will Darchinyan go for the knockout.

Darchinyan is The Ring's number 1 contender to their vacant championship at 115 pounds.

Arce turned pro at 16-years-old, therefore limiting his amateur boxing career. Arce is very popular in Mexico. He appeared on Mexico's version of the reality series "Big Brother" which is one of the top shows there. Arce has appeared on numerous sketch comedy shows and competed in a television dancing contest similar to "Dancing with the Stars" to boost his popularity and marketability. He has adopted the character of a cowboy. Arce comes to the ring and does press conferences wearing a cowboy hat and sucking on a lollipop. He will have a tremendous hometown advantage in the building for this match.

Arce's last match was a technical knockout victory over Isidro Garcia 48 seconds into round 4 on November 1, 2008 at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Garcia was a weak opponent designed to keep the boxer busy until he could face the winner of Darchinyan vs. Mijares. That was supposed to be Mijares, who had dominated Arcetaking a12-round unanimous decision on April 14, 2007 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. That would have been a great match up of Mexican babyfaces. Instead, Arce gets the chance to play the ultimate babyface against the villainous Darchinyan.

Arce is The Ring's number 6 contender at 115 pounds.

At 29-years-old, Arce is 4 years younger then the 33-year-old Darchinyan. Darchinyan has the height advantage standing 5' 5.5" tall, while Arce stands 5' 4.5" tall. Arce has the reach advantage with a 66" wingspan, compared to the 64.5" wingspan of Darchinyan. 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 on the day of the match. Therefore, both boxers should be about the same weight in the ring. Darchinyan will employ the southpaw stance and Arce will employ the orthodox stance.

Darchinyan is smiling walking to the ring. He is basking in the crowd's raucous hatred. The building is packed to see him lose, just like he wants.

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

Darchinyan dominated Arce in winning round 1, 10-9. Once again, Darchinyan did exactly what he said he was going to do. At the end of round 1, there is a cut under the right eye of Arce. The boxers' heads were coming close in round 1, but that was probably caused by one of Darchinyan's powerful left hands. The normally confident Arce's body language is bad in the corner after round 1. He knows that was about the worst start to the match he could have. At the end of round 2, there is some severe swelling under the left eye of Arce. It is probably not effecting his vision, yet. However, it could become a problem in a few rounds. Darchinyan dominates Arce in winning round 2, 10-9. Arce appears to be doing everything wrong against Darchinyan in the first couple rounds. On the outside, Arce is circling to the right, into Darchinyan's big left hand. Then Arce will come charging to get inside. Except, Darchinyan has Arce timed and is hitting Arce with straight lefts whenever Arce tries to come inside. Finally on the rare occasions Arce gets inside, Darchinyan punishes him with left uppercuts. At the end of round 3, Darchinyan was cut badly over his left eye by an unintentional clash of heads. The cut is near the bridge of his nose and streaming plasma as he heads back to his corner. Arce turned round 3 into a brawl and it was his best round of the match. However, Darchinyan still wins round 3, 10-9. Great round 4 with some outstanding exchanges of power punches. Darchinyan had Arce hurt and in trouble at the end of the round. Therefore, Darchinyan wins round 4, 10-9. Arce found some hope in round 4. He hit Darchinyan with some damaging left hooks in the round. Darchinyan holds his lead right hand very low and is very susceptible to that punch. The counter left hook is what Donaire used to knockout Darchinyan. If Arce keeps throwing the left hook, he can end Darchinyan's night with one punch. At the end of round 4, in addition to the severe swelling around Arce's left eye, there is now a cut there also. The cut below Arce's right eyeappears to be under control, but there is some minor swelling developing there. Arce screamed about Darchinyan leading with his head as he returned to his corner following round 4. After 4 rounds, Darchinyan leads on my scorecard, 40-36.

Darchinyan continued to punish Arce in winning round 5, 10-9. At the end of round 5, Arce's ear has started to bleed. It is unclear why it is bleeding, but they iced it in between rounds. With 2:53 to go in round 6, the referee issues Darchinyan a stern warning for pushing down on the head of Arce. This match has been full of roughhousing and the referee may decide to deduct a point from Darchinyan at some point. Darchinyan continues to dominate Arce in winning round 6, 10-9. The only reason this match is still going is that Arce has an amazing chin. After 6 rounds, Darchinyan leads on my scorecard, 60-54. The 3 members of the press keeping unofficial score of this match from ringside for Showtime have the same score after 6 rounds.

Darchinyan is way too good for Arce and thechampion wins round 7, 10-9. Round 8 is more of the same, and Darchinyan takes it, 10-9. It is getting to the point that Arce's corner may want to think about stopping this match. Darchinyan is susceptible to the left hook. However, Arce has taken such a beating that the majority of the power has gone out of his punches. In round 8, Arce landed the clean left hook to Darchinyan's jaw that he had been looking for and had hurt Darchinyan earlier, except this time the punch had no effect on the southpaw. Arce is hopelessly behind on the scorecards, but does still have a faint chance for a come from behind knockout. However, the swelling around Arce's left eye is very bad at this point and may be effecting his vision. Much more of this and Darchinyan will permanently injure Arce. Darchinyan has already put one Mexican boxer who was too tough to get knocked down in a coma and would not be shy about doing it to another. With 1:08 to go in round 9, Darchinyan holds Arce and hits the reality TV star. The referee issues Darchinyan another stern warning. Arce complains vehemently that the punch was to the back of the head. It appeared to be a borderline punch to the back of the head. The referee is not buying it and tells Arce to get back to boxing. Oddly, Arce is bleeding heavily from behind his left ear, but the Darchinyan punch Arce is complaining about was behind his right ear. There is no blood in the vicinity of Arce right ear. At the end of round 9, Arce is not only bleeding from around his left ear, but he is again bleeding from around his right eye. In addition, he is still bleeding from a cut under his left eye. Darchinyan wins round 9, 10-9. After 9 rounds, Darchinyan leads on my scorecard, 90-81.

Darchinyan, again dominates Arce to win round 10, 10-9. Arce's corner really needs to think about stopping this match. Arce is completely spent at this point and in serious danger of being badly hurt. After 10 rounds, all of the press row scorecards and my scorecard have Darchinyan ahead, 100-90. With around 1:50 to go in round 11, the cut around Arce's right eye has gotten much worse and is obstructing his vision. Arce wants the referee to call timeout. However, the referee is telling Arce the cut was caused by a punch and to continue boxing. Darchinyan is using the opportunity to try and finish his impaired opponent. With 1:30 to go in round 11, Arce slips partially through the ropes forcing a momentary break in the action. Arce is complaining that Darchinyan pushed him. However, the referee is still not buying into Arce's complaining. Arce survives the rest of round 11, but loses it soundly. Darchinyan wins round 11, 10-9. The doctor comes into the ring to check on Arce once the bell sounds to end round 11. The ringside physician is going to stop this match.

The official outcome courtesy of the "Classy" Jimmy Lennon, Jr. is that at: 3:00 of round at the advice of the doctor the referee has stopped the match making the winner by technical knockout and still Unified 115-Pound Champion of the World, "The Raging Bull" Vic Darchinyan. The win moves Darchinyan to 32-1-1 with now 26 wins coming by way of knockout.

The boisterous Darchinyan in his post match interview said that he did what he said he was going to do. As promised he punished Arce. Darchinyan said he wants a rematch with Donaire. However, Darchinyan's promoter, Gary Shaw jumped in to say the match will never happen. Shaw said he will not reward "disloyal people". (After Donaire's promotional contract with Shaw expired, the boxer signed with Top Rank. Donaire did not break his contract. However, this is disloyalty in the honorable sport of boxing.) It appears Ivan Calderon attempted to jump in and issue a post match challenge to Darchinyan, but was blocked. Darchinyan told whoever it was they had to go through Arce first and that Arce would destroy them.

Now for Arce's post match interview. Arce said he lost, because Darchinyan was throwing elbows. In addition, Arce was cut on the back of the head that contributed to the loss. It is best to assume Arce is concussed and not thinking clearly. Therefore, all post match comments from the boxer should be disregarded. Arce said that the circling to the left into Darchinyan's power allowed him to throw effective body shots. However, he did note that it allowed Darchinyan to throw effective punches to the head. Strangely, Arce wants a rematch. All of the official judges had Arce losing by the same score of 109-100 at the time of the stoppage. Arce said he disagreed with the doctor's decision to stop the match, because he had a puncher's chance in round 12.

Following this win and the retirement of Joe Calzaghe, Darchinyan has become The Ring's number 10 ranked boxer in the world, pound-for-pound. Darchinyan was great in this match. He dominated Arce in every way possible. The champion was put on a 60 day medical suspension following the match for the cut near the bridge of his nose. The best match for Darchinyan when he is allowed to compete again is the rematch with Donaire. However, it appears Shaw's petty grudge will keep that match from happening in the near future. Therefore, it appears Darchinyan will move up to 118 pounds and challenge either Joseph Agbeko or Hozumi Hasagawa for a belt there. A match with Agbeko is far more marketable in the United States making it the most likely to happen.

Following this loss, Arce has been dropped 2 spots in The Ring's rankings at 115 pounds and is the number 8 contender in the weight class. Arce was completely outclassed in this match. The only positive for him to take away from this match is that he showed a nearly inhuman ability to take a punch. With more carefully chosen opponents Arce can be successful against good boxers at 115 pounds. Arce needs to be matched against orthodox boxers who are the exact opposite of Darchinyan. He would be best served to headline some smaller shows or be in feature undercard matches on big shows rebuilding, before facing an elite boxer, again.

This was a very easy event to skip. The first match was average. The main event was completely one-sided.