Round by Round: Cristian Mijares vs. Vic Darchinyan

There is a somewhat lengthy delay here between fights [Editor's note: Possibly because of problems with the ring?]. Some interviews are shown with Warren Sapp and Tracey Ullman, plus some previews of upcoming fights. Yawn.

Unbelievable. Oklahoma 49-Nebraska 14 at the half.

And now the fight preview has begun. Showtime does a better job than HBO of actually breaking down strategy in fights. HBO mostly goes the human interest route. Showtime is actually breaking down film of past fights, which is cool. However, it is commonplace in other sports, so why not more in boxing?

Vic lost the coin flip and enters first. He comes out to no music. He gets some minor boos. Now some music plays that is audible barely.

And here comes Mijares. The crowd that is there is a boisterous one and shows itself to be behind Mijares for sure.

Charles says it looks like rain is on the way. Earlier it was mentioned that only lightning would stop the fights.

Mijares enjoys a 3 1/2" reach advantage, and the crowd is already chanting for him. He is all smiles through the introductions and the rules.

And away we go!

Round 1
Southpaws both ways for this fight. Charles mentions the Mijares smirk. Vic D is the aggressor. Not much serious jabbing, mostly probing and feeling out. Left from Vic. Mijares gets a jab in. Another left from Vic, but a haymaker overhand is blocked. Lots of feinting. One-two from Vic, then a clinch. Mijares is not throwing much at all. Down goes mijares! Not sure what happened there. Vic threw a number of hard punches and may have landed to the body - will have to check the replay.

Uatu: Darchinyan 10-8

Round 2
Mijares sort of leaned in and got clipped with a hard left uppercut. That's what took him down. Mijares is still not doing much. He may be gun shy. Vic is looking for opportunities to unleash the hard left. Mijares looks shaky as Vic is winding up big time and launching from all angles. Vic looks stronger for sure. Mijares gets in a solid left. Mijares is getting more offensive now in countering. Left to the body from Vic, answered by a nice left from Mijares. There's a clinch, then more posing in the middle. Both men are throwing fake jabs, looking to explode. A solid right hook from Mijares backs Vic up.

Uatu: Mijares 10-9

Round 3
That was a close second round. More posing and feinting to open the third. Right jabs fly from both men. They circle in the middle, then clinch. Left to the body from Mijares. Halfway through and little action. Right to the body from mijares. Mijares dodges Vic. Four punches from Vic followed by two more. Solid left to body from Vic. Some wrestling to end the round. Not much to cheer about that round although there was a "Mexico" chant.

Uatu: Darchinyan 10-9

Round 4
The usual circling and light tapping in the middle starts this frame. Body shot by Vic D. Two jabs are blocked by Vic. Mijares throws his first true combos of the night. Nice left from Vic D. Both men are waiting to explode but not pulling the trigger. Vic isn't hesitant, but he is being judicious about jumping in. Smart. Vic is throwing the jab a little harder than before. There's a 1-2-3-4 from Vic with two of them landing. Vic tries the uppercut twice but they don't really score.

Uatu: Darchinyan 10-9

Round 5
Round 4 had little to be excited about. Mijares did show somewhat of a combo in the middle part, but not much more than the other rounds. Press row all had it 40-35 up to this point with Vic D sweeping the rounds. He probably took this one too with more of the same.

Uatu: Darchinyan 10-9

Round 6
Each round has taken a good 30 seconds before either man has landed. This round continues that trend. Mijares lands a few, but they aren't with the same force of Vic's punches. Vic throws the hard thudding body shots, and even when they are blocked they just look more impressive. Big time left from Vic but Mijares isn't shaken by it. Some in-fighting but Mijares' punches get blocked. Nice mijares jab. Three shots to the head by Vic D that all land. That's probably going to get him this round. Now comes more wrestling. Mijares tries a few shots, but Vic is showing movement and underrated defense and skill. Vic has been impressive.

Uatu: Darchinyan 10-9

Round 7
Left to the head from Vic D. All press row scorers have it 60-53 Vic D. Mijares gets in a nice shot to the head. Three punches go body-head from Mijares. Not bad. If he wants to turn the tide, it's time to get going. Mijares is really outworking Vic this round. Vic gets in a nice left to stem the tide. One-two combo from Vic. Mijares is coming forward this round, but Vic gets him on the way in. Nice uppercut or left from Vic - could have gone either way. Mijares had more moments this round than in other recent rounds. Vic had his shots too though after the mid-round point, winning him the round in this judge's eyes.

Uatu: Darchinyan 10-9

Round 8
Nothing lands for first 30 seconds. Mijares is picking up the pace. Vic isn't slowing down with the hard stuff either. Vic lands two to the body. Both announcers think that Vic may be looking vulnerable. Uatu says Vic D is still getting it done this round though. Mijares tries hooks to the body but gets a warning for them.

Uatu: Darchinyan 10-9

Round 9
The announcers say Mijares is fighting the wrong fight. Some early aggression from vic. Mijares is jabbing. Press row journalists all have it 79-72. Not much hard punching either way. Some more wrestling and pushing. Middle of the ring punches are getting blocked but Vic is throwing hard. He looks to have really hurt Mijares with a combo. Mijares is looking shaky. Vic is bombing away, but Mijares is grabbing to buy time. Mijares seems to have recovered. He just doesn't have the strength to really scare Vic. With eight seconds to go, Vic goes hard to the head of Mijares! There is no getting up from that one! That was a powerful shot. Mijares was sort of meandering backwards to the ropes in the final seconds and vic kept throwing. The last punch got Mijares dead square, and down he went. Vic lands the monster shot and he wins! It was a nice right jab and huge straight left moving forward that did it.

The winner by KO at 3:00 of Round 9... and new unified WBA, WBC, and IBF super flyweight champion... Vic "The Raging Bull" Darchinyan.

Darchinyan completely proved the naysayers wrong in this one - including one Uatu. He looked to be in the form he showed back when he was destroying people before his first loss.

Vic says he showed he was skillful and smart. He says repeatedly that he kept his promise to win. The judges all had it 79-72 when the end arrived.

Good night of action in both fights. Score one for Showtime.