In
a somewhat disappointing ending to what was shaping up to be a one-sided but
excellent performance, Vic “The Raging Bull” Darchinyan, 36-3-1 (27), won a
technical decision over Yonnhy Perez, 20-2-1 (14), after an accidental clash of
heads stopped the contest in round five of a scheduled 12. The bout held at The
Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, CA, was the headliner on Showtime following the
injury that sidelined fellow ShowtimeBantamweightTournament finalistJoseph Agbekofrom his scheduled fight withAbner Mares.
Darchinyan,
who promised to go for a first round KO, started aggressively as always,
fighting low and in close. A Darchinyan left got through early. Perez, a
Colombian volume puncher, took his time, moving, boxing. A right got through
for Perez followed by a body shot but Darchinyan took it well. A long left
landed for Darchinyan but there was not much on it, then Darchinyan landed two
hard lefts and Perez covered up. Perez stayed tall but did not use his long
reach to dictate the action. Not many jabs were used by either man in an
intense first round dominated mostly by Darchinyan’s activity.
Darchinyan
pawed with the right hand to start the second and Perez went downstairs to the
body, hoping to get something going. As they came in close, a left by
Darchinyan dropped Perez. A replay showed that the right leg of Darchinyan
pushed against Perez but it was a legit knockdown that stunned Perez, who got
up quickly.Darchinyan jumped on
him but kept his composure before a left uppercut hurt Perez again and he went
to the ropes. Left after left got through for Darchinyan with no answer from
Perez. Darchinyan backed off and the action moved across the ring. Darchinyan
got in a left to the body, missed upstairs but recovered later with a long left
hand that pushed Perez back. Perez got in a right hand flush but it had little
effect. Perez seemed unable to get untracked while Darchinyan battered him late
with lefts to the body and a couple upstairs.
Perez
began to let his hands go in the third but missed with the right hand in early
attempts. A chopping left and right stopped Darchinyan in his tracks and Perez
began to step it up more and ate a left hand on the inside for his troubles. A
right uppercut and left hand landed for Darchinyan. Perez kept moving the fight
inside and trying to land his right hand and was warned for a low right.
Darchinyan seemed intent on being a little rougher and more physical in this
fight as he would push Perez back every time he came in close. Darchinyan
unloaded a flurry that seemed to rock Perez, who moved to the corner briefly
before circling out to center. Darchinyan, not normally a volume puncher,
seemed intent on being the busier man, digging in with shots at Perez’s high
guard and then coming downstairs.
In
the fourth, Darchinyan got in a niceleft hand/right handcombo that moved back Perez. Another
left about 30 seconds later split the guard of Perez, who did very little in
this round at that point. Perez began to rally late but there was no snap or
power on his shots and Darchinyan blocked or slipped most of them. Darchinyan
seemed a little spent in the back of the round, the result of committing so
much to each punch but he closed strong, landing hardleft handsin
succession and flurrying to Perez’s body.
Darchinyan
was in a groove by the fifth, holding his hands low, waving them about in front
of Perez and then landing his left hand. However, the end would come when an
accidental clash of heads cut Perez right of center of his face. Referee Jerry
Cantu came in to check it and then waved off the fight. The butt occurred with
Perez’s back to the ropes, when Darchinyan landed a left hand upstairs, digging
with it to the body. As he did so, their heads clashed. The time was 1:07 of
the fifth. As the fight had gone past four rounds, the fight was scored,
including the fifth at 50-44 across the board for Darchinyan in a technical
decision.
“[Perez]
suffered an arterial bleed. It was going right into his eyes. He gave no
indication he wanted to stop,” said ringside physician Dr. Paul Wallace.
A
victorious Darchinyan would state, “He took big punches. I wanted to knock him
out but he is still a great fighter. The ref said, ‘Do you want to fight?’
[Perez] said no. He quit. Today, I would fight anyone in the division.”
Regarding
the clash of heads, Darchinyan said, “Yes it was a headbutt but if it wasn’t a
headbutt, I would knock him out.”
As
for the future, Darchinyan said, “I would like to fight Abner Mares if he will
fight me. If not, I will fightNonito Donaire. If
they won’t fight me, I will move up to another division.”
I
asked Darchinyan’s promoter Gary Shaw if the ban he had on a Donaire-Darchinyan
rematch was now lifted and he responded, “We have no idea who Nonito is with so
right now he is on ice.”
A
dejected Perez said, “I know it appeared differently from outside the ring but
I felt I was just getting warmed up in there,” Perez said afterward. “I am
extremely disappointed to have the fight end this way. At the beginning, I felt
that he was not as heated up as I expected him to be. So I felt I was making
headway as the rounds went on. Now I am going to head back to Colombia and
relax and regroup and see what is the next step in my career.”
On
the undercard, junior welterweight Omar Figueroa, 11-0-1 (7), stopped John
Figueroa, 7-10-3 (3), at 2:05 of the second round.
Junior
welters Art Hovhannisyan, 13-0-1 (7), stopped Jose Lugo, 11-16-1 (5), in five
rounds after a lackluster affair. The time was 1:57 of the fifth.
Welterweight
Vito Gasparyan, 12-2-5 (6), outworked and finally stopped Trenton Titsworth,
3-12-1 (2), at 2:31 of round five.
Junior
welters Azat Hovenensian, 0-1, andJuan
Reyes, 2-0-1, put on a great little four-round war. Reyes had to have it
tonight though and pulled out the win UD win.
Heavyweight
DaVarryl Williamson, 27-6 (23), scored a brutal knockout in the seventh over
Michael Marrone, 19-3 (14).
You can email Gabriel at maxgmontoya@gmail.com, follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/gabriel_montoya and catch him on each Monday’s episode of “The Next Round” with Steve Kim or tune into hear him live on Thursdays at 5-8 PM PST when he co-hosts the BlogTalk radio show Leave-It-In-The-Ring.com. Gabriel is a full member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. * Special Thanks
ToMaxBoxing.