Vakhtang Darchinyan
(Armenian, born 7 January 1976 in Vanadzor, Armenia), more commonly known as Vic "Raging Bull" Darchinyan
is a professional boxer who is the current WBA, WBC and IBF Undisputed Super Flyweight World Champion. Darchinyan was also formerly the IBF and IBO champion of the flyweight division and briefly reigned as the IBO's super flyweight champion also. He is a southpaw boxer, who currently trains under Billy Hussein, brother of boxers Nedal and Hussein Hussein. Previously, he was trained by former 3-division world champion, Jeff Fenech in Sydney, Australia.
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VIC DARCHINYAN TICKETS
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Amateur career
Darchinyan's amateur career was 158-18 record with 105 knockouts,
[1] fighting in many different countries , as he participated for Armenia in the
2000 Olympic Games in
Sydney, Australia. He went to the third round in the 112 lb division before losing against
Bulat Jumadilov of
Kazakhstan. Darchinyan moved to Australia after competing in the Olympics, eventually became an Australian citizen on
7 July 2004. Darchinyan turned pro at age 24 on
3 November 2000.
Olympic Results
- Defeated opponent (bye)
- Defeated Ilfat Ryazapov (Russia) 20-11
- Lost to Bulat Jumadilov (Kazakhstan) 8-15
Pro career
He won his IBF title on
16 December 2004, in his first fight in the
United States, beating respected champion
Irene Pacheco of
Colombia, via 11 round technical knock-out. He has made six successful defenses of the title winning all by stoppage.
Darchinyan is a highly entertaining fighter with brutal power, and an unorthodox,lunging style. He has questionable defensive capabilities however, so therefore his fights usually turn out to be extremely entertaining and often controversial (see draw with Gorres).
In his third title defense, he displayed his power by knocking out Filipino challenger
Diosdado Gabi with a single straight left. In his last two fights he broke
Glenn Donaire's jaw and knocked out
Victor Burgos in the 12th round, who later underwent surgery to remove a blood clot from his brain.
He lost both IBF and IBO titles to American-based Filipino
Nonito Donaire (
Glenn Donaire's brother) via a 5th round knockout on 7 July 2007 in Connecticut, the fight ended with a single left hook to the face of Darchinyan.
Darchinyan returned 3 months later and won the vacant IBO super flyweight title, stopping Filipino veteran
Federico Catubay. Vic decided to outbox and outpunch his larger opponent and finally finished him off in round 12. He voluntarily relinquished the IBO title prior to fighting in an IBF eliminator.
Controversial draw with Gorres
On
2 February 2008, Darchinyan fought
Z Gorres to a controversial split draw at the Waterfront Hotel in
Cebu City,
Philippines in an IBF super flyweight eliminator where the winner would challenge the champion
Dimitri Kirilov. The bout began with a knockdown for Darchinyan in the first round, which appeared to be slip by Gorres when replayed. The crowd was upset with the referee calling the slip a knockdown and began to pelt the ring with bottles water, coins and other objects. Gorres came back in the second round to floor Darchinyan with a left hand, but Darchinyan beat the count, which again prompted some arena fans to pelt the ring with objects. Gorres was knocked down in the fifth round, but the referee ruled it a slip. A clash of heads in the sixth round opened up a bad gash on Gorres. In the ninth round, Darchinyan connected with a right hand, sending Gorres down for the second time in the fight. Gorres would fall to the canvas on at least three other occasions in the final three rounds, with the referee ruling all of them slips. The final scores were 113-112 for Gorres, 114-112 for Darchinyan, and 113-113 for the draw.
[2]
Darchinyan's promoter,
Gary Shaw, will file an official protest with the IBF over the officiating of the bout.
[3]
Despite the draw, Darchinyan earned the right to take on Kirilov for being higher in the ratings and willing to accept the fight.
2nd World Title
6 months later, Vic was back in what most experts called a career-best performance, Vic took on IBF Junior Bantamweight champion
Dimitri Kirilov at the
Emerald Queen Casino in
Tacoma Washington. Vic dominated from the opening bell and showed improvement in speed and boxing skills, as he eventually caught Kirilov in round 5. dropping him twice enroute to a round 5 KO. Vic was ahead 40-36 on all 3 judge's scorecards.
Super Flyweight Unification
On
November 1,
2008, Darchinyan fought WBC and WBA super flyweight champion
Cristian Mijares at the
Home Depot Center in
Carson, California. Darchinyan was the aggressor from the outset, getting inside with big punches including a left uppercut that knocked Mijares down in the first round. With his unorthodox crouching style, Darchinyan seemed to confuse Mijares, who was often content to counterpunch rather than attack.
[4] Mijares connected with just one combination the entire fight, that during a brief span of the fifth round. Darchinyan, however, was unhurt and unfazed. In the ninth round, Darchinyan caught Mijares with a right hand. Then as Mijares backed away, Darchinyan lunged and landed a straight left hand that knocked out Mijares.
[5] Darchinyan became the first man in history to unify the titles in the weight class.
[6]
With the victory, Darchinyan matches
Jeff Fenech's record as a 3 time world champion. Along with
Kostya Tszyu's record as Undisputed World Champion.
Undisputed Super Flyweight Title Defence
On February 7, 2009, Darchinyan successfully defended his championship against
Jorge Arce, winning by TKO in the 11th round.
Move To Bantamweight
Darchinyan moved up to bantamweight to fight IBF champion
Joseph Agbeko in Sunrise, Florida and lost a unanimous decision in a fight in which he looked aggressive as usual but always got tagged with right hands. Agbeko spoiled Darchinyan's goal of winning his third world title in a different division.
SCORING:
Two judges scored the bout 114-113 for Agbeko, while the third had it for the Ghanaian Agbeko, 116-111.
See also
- List of flyweight boxing champions
- List of super flyweight boxing champions
- List of current world boxing champions
- List of undisputed boxing champions
- Ring Magazine pound for pound
Notes and references
- Vic Darchinyan's Showtime biography Showtime URL accessed 1 August 2006
- Darchinyan-Gorres Ends in Controversial Draw
- Shaw To Protest Darchinyan-Gorres Result
- Darchinyan KO's Mijares in super flyweight clash
- Darchinyan stops Mijares in super flyweight unification bout
- Darchinyan stops Mijares in title unification bout