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Vic Darchinyan Dominates, Gets Technical Decision Win Over Yonnhy Perez…AVILA
LOS ANGELES-A revved upVic Darchinyan wasted little time in devouring Colombia’s Yonnhy Perez with a barrage of punches before the fight was stopped due to an accidental clash of heads. Darchinyan captured the vacant IBO bantamweight world title on the score cards on Saturday.
Darchinyan had promised a meaner and more aggressive style and he kept that promise as Perez (21-2-1, 14 KOs) was stunned early and never recovered in a fight many expected to be close. The crowd at the Nokia Theater sat stunned from the very beginning at the onslaught.
“He took big punches. I wanted to knock him out but he is still a great fighter,” said Darchinyan (36-3-1, 27 KOs).
Darchinyan was the aggressor in the first round and let loose with some big left hand bombs. Perez just stayed in the pocket and fired a couple of right leads. Darchinyan landed a left through Perez’s glove for the best punch of the frame.
A short left cross by Darchinyan to the chin decked Perez early in the second round. A left uppercut wobbled Perez but somehow he survived a bludgeoning on his feet.
“I know it appeared differently from outside of the ring but I felt I was getting warmed up in there,” said Perez. “I felt I was making a headway as the rounds went on.”
Perez ignited fast in the third round behind some stinging right hands that seemed to slightly stun Darchinyan. But the gritty Armenian slipped into another gear and began firing left after left to win the round and nearly drop Perez.
Both slowed down in round four but Darchinyan unloaded a seven-punch combination to the head and body that had Perez reeling again. The Colombian rallied a bit but didn’t seem to have much zip to his punches.
A clash of heads opened up a gush of blood over Perez’ s right eyebrow in the fifth round and Dr. Paul Wallace advised the fight be stopped at 1:07, but there was no doubt that the score cards would favor Darchinyan overwhelmingly. Even in the shortened round the Armenian slugger dominated. Before the cards were read the Armenian fighter was hoisted on his corner man’s shoulder.
“I’m extremely disappointed it ended up this way,” Perez said.
Dr. Paul Wallace said it was his decision to stop the fight and that Perez never indicated he wanted to quit.
All three judges scored the fight 50-44 for Darchinyan and there was little dispute.
“Yes it was a head butt but if it wasn’t a head butt I would knock him out,” said Darchinyan, adding that he would fight Abner Mares or Nonito Donaire. “I’ll fight anyone in the division.”
Other bouts
Riverside’s Juan Reyes (2-0-1) slugged it out with Glendale’s Azat Hovhannesyan (0-1) in a four round junior lightweight clash. Reyes came out strong throwing punches like a machine gun and Hovhannesyan tried a variety of ways to diffuse the onslaught. Nothing worked. In the third round Reyes pounded the courageous Armenian boxer and it could have been stopped. But the fight went on and the fourth round saw both exchange liberally with Reyes landing more. Judge David Denkin scored it 38-37 and the other two 40-36 for Reyes.
Omar Figueroa (11-0-1, 9 KOs) of Texas caught Puerto Rico’s John Figueroa (7-10-3, 3 KOs) with a right uppercut-right cross combination in the second round of a junior welter bout. A follow up flurry saw the Boricua’s corner request referee Jack Reiss to halt the fight at 2:05 of the round.
Glendale’s Art Hovhannesyan (13-0-1, 7 KOs) stopped Mexico’s Jose Lugo (11-16-1) with a well-time right hand and a push at 1:57 of the fifth round of a junior welterweight match. The push probably did Lugo a favor because he could not beat the count.
“I’m sure my next fight will be a lot tougher,” said Hovhannesyan.
Allentown’s Mikey Diaz (5-0, 3 KOs) floored L.A.’s Alejandro Solario (4-4, 3 KOs) with a crushing counter right hand in the third round of a flyweight bout. Solario had a good first round but once Diaz softened the body he took the rest of the rounds. All three judges scored it 39-36.
Davarryl Williamson (27-6, 23 KOs) kept hitting Michael Marrone with big right hands but couldn’t seem to hurt the Floridian. In the fourth round a combo finally floored Marrone (19-3, 14 KOs) and in the seventh round a couple of razor right hands finalized the job at 2:30 of the round for a knockout win for Williamson. Marrone was taken to the nearby hospital for observation after the knockout. “He wasn’t responding well to the questions,” said Dr. Paul Wallace. “He had a bit of amnesia.”
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2015 Fight of the Year – Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura
The WBC World Super Featherweight title bout between Francisco Vargas and Takashi Miura came on one of the biggest boxing stages of 2015, as the bout served as the HBO pay-per-view’s co-main event on November 21st, in support of Miguel Cotto vs Saul Alvarez.
Miura entered the fight with a (29-2-2) record and he was making the fifth defense of his world title, while Vargas entered the fight with an undefeated mark of (22-0-1) in what was his first world title fight. Both men had a reputation for all-out fighting, with Miura especially earning high praise for his title defense in Mexico where he defeated Sergio Thompson in a fiercely contested battle.
The fight started out hotly contested, and the intensity never let up. Vargas seemed to win the first two rounds, but by the fourth round, Miura seemed to pull ahead, scoring a knock-down and fighting with a lot of confidence. After brawling the first four rounds, Miura appeared to settle into a more technical approach. Rounds 5 and 6 saw the pendulum swing back towards Vargas, as he withstood Miura’s rush to open the fifth round and the sixth round saw both men exchanging hard punches.
The big swinging continued, and though Vargas likely edged Miura in rounds 5 and 6, Vargas’ face was cut in at least two spots and Miura started to assert himself again in rounds 7 and 8. Miura was beginning to grow in confidence while it appeared that Vargas was beginning to slow down, and Miura appeared to hurt Vargas at the end of the 8th round.
Vargas turned the tide again at the start of the ninth round, scoring a knock down with an uppercut and a straight right hand that took Miura’s legs and sent him to the canvas. Purely on instinct, Miura got back up and continued to fight, but Vargas was landing frequently and with force. Referee Tony Weeks stepped in to stop the fight at the halfway point of round 9 as Miura was sustaining a barrage of punches.
Miura still had a minute and a half to survive if he was going to get out of the round, and it was clear that he was not going to stop fighting.
A back and forth battle of wills between two world championship level fighters, Takashi Miura versus “El Bandido” Vargas wins the 2015 Fight of the Year.
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Jan 9 in Germany – Feigenbutz and De Carolis To Settle Score
This coming Saturday, January 9th, the stage is set at the Baden Arena in Offenburg, Germany for a re-match between Vincent Feigenbutz and Giovanni De Carolis. The highly anticipated re-match is set to air on SAT.1 in Germany, and Feigenbutz will once again be defending his GBU and interim WBA World titles at Super Middleweight.
The first meeting between the two was less than three months ago, on October 17th and that meeting saw Feigenbutz controversially edge De Carolis on the judge’s cards by scores of (115-113, 114-113 and 115-113). De Carolis scored a flash knock down in the opening round, and he appeared to outbox Feigenbutz in the early going, but the 20 year old German champion came on in the later rounds.
The first bout is described as one of the most crowd-pleasing bouts of the year in Germany, and De Carolis and many observers felt that the Italian had done enough to win.
De Carolis told German language website RAN.DE that he was more prepared for the re-match, and that due to the arrogance Feigenbutz displayed in the aftermath of the first fight, he was confident that he had won over some of the audience. Though De Carolis fell short of predicting victory, he promised a re-vamped strategy tailored to what he has learned about Feigenbutz, whom he termed immature and inexperienced.
The stage is set for Feigenbutz vs De Carolis 2, this Saturday January 9th in Offenburg, Germany. If you can get to the live event do it, if not you have SAT.1 in Germany airing the fights, and The Boxing Channel right back here for full results.
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2015 Knock Out of the Year – Saul Alvarez KO’s James Kirkland
On May 9th of 2015, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez delivered a resonant knock-out of James Kirkland on HBO that wins the 2015 KO of the Year.
The knock-out itself came in the third round, after slightly more than two minutes of action. The end came when Alvarez delivered a single, big right hand that caught Kirkland on the jaw and left him flat on his back after spinning to the canvas.Alvarez was clearly the big star heading into the fight. The fight was telecast by HBO for free just one week after the controversial and disappointing Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao fight, and Alvarez was under pressure to deliver the type of finish that people were going to talk about. Kirkland was happy to oblige Alvarez, taking it right to Alvarez from the start. Kirkland’s aggression saw him appear to land blows that troubled the young Mexican in the early going. Alvarez played good defense, and he floored Kirkland in the first round, displaying his power and his technique in knocking down an aggressive opponent.
However, Kirkland kept coming at Alvarez and the fight entered the third round with both men working hard and the feeling that the fight would not go the distance. Kirkland continued to move forward, keeping “Canelo” against the ropes and scoring points with a barrage of punches while looking for an opening.
At around the two minute mark, Alvarez landed an uppercut that sent Kirkland to the canvas again. Kirkland got up, but it was clear that he did not have his legs under him. Kirkland was going to try to survive the round, but Alvarez had an opportunity to close out the fight. The question was would he take it?
Alvarez closed in on Kirkland, putting his opponent’s back to the ropes. Kirkland was hurt, but he was still dangerous, pawing with punches and loading up for one big shot.
But it was the big shot “Canelo” threw that ended the night. Kirkland never saw it coming, as he was loading up with a huge right hand of his own. The right Alvarez threw cracked Kirkland in the jaw, and his eyes went blank. His big right hand whizzed harmlessly over the head of a ducking Alvarez, providing the momentum for the spin that left Kirkland prone on the canvas.
Saul “Canelo” Alvarez went on to defeat Miguel Cotto in his second fight of 2015 and he is clearly one of boxing’s biggest stars heading into 2016. On May 9th Alvarez added another reel to his highlight film when he knocked out James Kirkland with the 2015 “Knock Out of the Year”.
Photo by naoki fukuda
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