Australia-based Armenian Vic Darchinyan became the undisputed world super flyweight champion on Saturday with a knockout win over Mexican Cristian Mijares in their title unification bout in Carson, California.
Darchinyan came into the bout with his IBF belt on the line while Mijares risked his WBC and WBA titles. Darchinyan left with all three, knocking Mijares down with a left uppercut in the first round and then finishing him off with a jolting straight left in the ninth.
IBF champ Darchinyan dominated the match of two southpaws from start to finish.
"I promised to show my skills and knock him out and I kept my promise," Darchinyan said. "I was always confident I was the best fighter. I had beaten guys that had beaten him."
Mijares, known for boxing skills and not power, said earlier that intelligence would beat strength. But he did not fight a smart fight, instead trying to mix it up with his hard-hitting foe.
Darchinyan had won all but one round on each judges' card before he stopped the Mexican fighter as the ninth round ended.
The 32-year-old Darchinyan is 31-1-1, with 25 knockouts. Mijares, 27, is 36-4-2, with 14 knockouts.
Darchinyan had held the IBF flyweight title from 2000 to 2007 when he suffered a TKO defeat at the hands of Filipino Nonito Donaire. He stepped up in weight to super flyweight and won that IBF title in August with a knockout of Russian Dimitri Kirilov. This was his first defense.
Mijares won the interim WBC super flyweight crown with a 12-round decision over Colombian Reynaldo Lopez in late 2006, and confirmed the belt with a TKO win in Japan over Katsushige Kawashima in early 2007. This was his seventh defense of that title, and second of the WBA belt, which he claimed with a split decision over Venezuelan Alexander Munoz in May this year.
(Agencies via Shanghai Daily November 3, 2008)