“Darchinyan Dominant as He Claims IBO Bantamweight Title Against Perez”

Darchinyan Dominant as He Claims IBO Bantamweight Title Against Perez With Technical Decision

Added on Apr 25, 2011 by Brian Blake in

Boxing

The Armenian born Aussie based Vic “Raging Bull” Darchinyan emphatically returned to the win column last night at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles, California in the main event of Showtime’s Bantamweight Tournament consolation bout. The battle between Darchinyan and Columbia’s Yohnny Perez was moved up to the main event slot after Joseph King Kong Agbeko suffered a back injury ultimately scrapping his scheduled bout with Abner Mares.

The one sided affair had Darchinyan starting off with a bang as he floored his opponent in the second round. Things only got worse for the fighter known as “El Colombiano” who had a cut opened over his eye due to an accidental clash of heads. On the advice of ringside physician, Dr. Paul Wallace, the bout was called to a halt at the 1:44 mark of the fifth stanza.

“Perez suffered from an arterial bleed,’’ Wallace explained. “One of his blood vessels had been cut and it was pumping directly into his eye. He gave no indication he wanted to stop.”

Following the stoppage, the shortened slug fest was sent to the scorecards where Darchinyan was awarded the vacant IBO Bantamweight Championship as all three judges had him ahead with identical scores of 50-44.

“He took big punches,’’ Darchinyan said afterward. “I wanted to knock him out, but he is still a great fighter. It was a headbutt. But if it wasn’t a headbutt, I’d knock him out. No more boxing in my style.”

Perez, who suffered his second consecutive defeat and now sports an official record of 20-2-1 with 14 KOs, was understandably disappointed with the result as he ponders the next step in his promising career.

“I know it appeared differently from the outside but I was just getting warmed up,’’ he said. “At the beginning, I felt that Darchinyan was not as heated up as I expected him to be. I felt I was making headway in the later rounds.

“(But) I am disappointed that the fight ended this way. My head feels fine. I would have continued had the referee not called the fight. The knock down was legitimate — he caught me.

“Now I will head back to Colombia , relax and regroup and then decide the next move in my career,” Perez concluded.

With the one-sided win Darchinyan once again solidified himself as one of the division’s elite and looks forward to the big fights that likely await him.

“Today I’d fight anyone in the division. I’d like to fight Abner Mares if he’d fight me. If not, I’ll fight Nonito Donaire. If they won’t fight me, I’ll move up to another division.”

Darchinyan has tasted defeat at the hands of both Donaire and Mares and clearly is looking for an opportunity to avenge those losses. Donaire burst onto the scene in 2007 with a stunning KO over then Flyweight champ Darchinyan while Mares bested The Raging Bull via split decision in a 12 round affair last December.

Those plans just might have to wait as a Donaire rematch has failed to come to fruition in the past four years and recent comments by Mares indicate that he’s more than likely going to wait for Agbeko to heal up and challenge for his IBF crown as previously scheduled.

That being said we could very well be seeing a Darchinyan debut in the junior featherweight division and if Saturday’s performance was an indicator it could be a thrilling one.

In addition to being available ON DEMAND beginning on Tuesday, April 26, the bout which was called ringside by Gus Johnson, Al Bernstein and former light heavyweight champ Antonio Tarver will be replayed the same day on Showtime Extreme at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT.