In the battle of Eastern European little men it was the Armenian Vic Darchinyan that emerged with the IBF junior bantamweight title after he bludgeoned Dimitri Kirilov into submission over five one-sided rounds.
After Darchinyan lost his flyweight title to surging Nonito Donaire the heavy handed southpaw has changed trainers and is looking to correct some of his defensive shortcomings.¬ In this fight with Kirilov, Darchinyan did look a lot better technically speaking, granted he still fights out of some sort of aggressive crab style (Crab People, Crab People!) but as the Showtime announcers pointed out Darchinyan does not square up with his opponents as much as he did in the past.¬ Oh, and Darchinyan unleashed a jab in this fight.¬ Sure it was more of a pushing, range finder then an actual punch but it is good to see the little guy diversify.¬ It seemed as if Kirilov was never in the fight mentally as he did everything that trainer Freddie Roach advised him not to and as a result ate a a steady diet of Darchinyan left hands.¬ In fact by the fourth round Darchinyan was telegraphing the left and still managed to land it regularly to the skull of Kirilov.¬ The accumulating effect paid dividends in the fifth as Darchinyan landed three left hands to floor Kirilov and moments later another big left put the Russian down for the count.¬ It was an impressive win for Darchinyan.¬ Personally I would like to see him avenge his loss to Donaire but given the Filipino’s fallout with promoter Gary Shaw that fight does not seem likely in the near future.¬ A showdown with Cristian Mijares would be an excellent fight and one that could possibly be made given both fighters willingness to fight anyone.¬
Darchinyan Bludgeons Kirilov In Title Winning Effort
Posted by Tim Starks on Aug 3, 2008 04:04
