Vic Darchinyan Knocks Out Cristian Mijares
Co-Feature: Andre Dirrell vs Victor Oganov
Cristian Mijares struggled with Vic Darchinyan's straight left hand all night long, until Darchinyan ended the struggling with one last left at the end of the ninth, leaving Mijares on his back and the sparse, but partisan Mijares crowd stunned.
Darchinyan, with his awkward stance, appears to be all nose and elbows when he fights, but he delivers his left with speed and jarring power. Mijares had already been knocked down once, in round one, and stunned again early in the second, but gathered himself later in the round and through the next several. Slowing the pace, and timing Darchinyan became the strategy for the favored Mijares, and at times, it seemed to be working.
In rounds three and four Darchinyan missed wildly while Mijares, the technician, smoothly countered and collected all the style points. But every once in a while Darchinyan landed a hard left to the side of Mijares' head and the assurances of Mijares' technical superiority faded.
A hard left early in round nine had wobbled Mijares, then a quick one-two put him flat on his back under the ring ropes.
With this fight, Darchinyan, 31-1-1 (24) completes his comeback from a devastating KO at the hands of Nonito Donaire. Many observers doubted Darchinyan could continue his rise to stardom after the Donaire fight, believing that Donaire had exposed Darchinyan's flaws in much the same way that Marco Antonio Barrera had exposed Naseem Hamed's deficiencies in their fight.
Mijares, 36-4-3 (14), probably disagrees with that assessment.
Andre Dirrell vs. Victor Oganov
Andre Dirrell dominated Victor Oganov from the opening bell of their super middleweight fight up to 28 seconds of round six, when referee Ray Corona decided that Oganov's bloody face had taken enough punishment for the night.
"I was a little surprised the referee stopped it when he did, but I knew it was just a matter of time," said Dirrell. "He was a tough guy and this was the kind of fight I expected."
Oganov clearly expected more from himself, but was gracious nonetheless. "I'm ok, but I'm disappointed. I came to do my best and tried to win with my power punches, but I waited too long."
Dirrell, 17-0 (12), couldn't drop the tough Russian, though he tried every tactic imaginable. Dirrell tried overwhelming Oganov, 28-2 (28), with speed and combinations, but Oganov kept coming. The Michigan native tried backing up and countering Oganov, who kept coming. Then came the bodyshots followed by ringing uppercuts. Oganov kept coming.
His right eye badly cut and his courage getting the best of him, Oganov fought as if on rails, unable to move laterally and catching nearly everything Dirrell through at him.
"He was taking punishment. It was too one-sided," said Corona. "He was taking heavy blows. hen he took the stutter-step, I had to stop it. I didn't want him to get hurt."
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