Vic Darchinyan

Infobox_Boxer|name=Vic Darchinyan


realname=Vakhtang Darchinyan
nationality=flagicon|Armenia Armenian
flagicon|Australia Australian citizen
nickname=Raging Bull, Vic Daryan
weight=Super flyweight
height=5 ft. 5½ in. (166 cm.)
birth_date=birth date and age|1976|1|7|df=y
birth_place=Vanadzor, Armenia
home=Sydney, Australia
style=Southpaw
total=32
wins=30
KO=24
losses=1
draws=1
no contests=0|

Vakhtang "Vic" Darchinyan (Lang-hy|Վախթանգ Դարչինյան, born 7 January 1976 in Vanadzor, Armenia) is the former IBF and IBO champion of the flyweight division. Darchinyan is the current IBO super flyweight world title holder, and (IBF) junior bantamweight champion. 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.

Amateur career

Darchinyan's amateur career was 158-18 record with 105 knockouts, [ [http://www.sho.com/site/boxing/profile.do?fighter=453921 Vic Darchinyan's Showtime biography] Showtime URL accessed 1 August 2006] all but twenty of them were in Armenia, 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 four 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.

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. [cite web
last =Vester
first =Mark
title =Darchinyan-Gorres Ends in Controversial Draw
work =BoxingScene.com
date =2008-02-02
url =http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=12408
accessdate =2008-02-03] Darchinyan's promoter, Gary Shaw, will file an official protest with the IBF over the officiating of the bout. [cite web
last =Vester
first =Mark
title =Shaw To Protest Darchinyan-Gorres Result
work =BoxingScene.com
date =2008-02-02
url =http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=12418
accessdate =2008-02-03]

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, 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.

Darchinyan will head into a unification match later in 2008 with the highly touted Cristian Mijares, in a much anticipated fight. [http://www.secondsout.com/USA/news.cfm?ccs=229&cs=29181]

ee also

*List of flyweight boxing champions

Notes and references

External links

* [http://www.vicdarchinyan.com/ Official website]
*