Australian, Australia
Aug 24 2005

Darchinyan retains titles
By Adrian Warren
August 24, 2005

VIC Darchinyan has retained the International Boxing Federation (IBF)
flyweight world title with a crushing fifth-round technical knockout
over Columbian challenger Jair Jiminez.

Darchinyan, who also retained the less prestigious International
Boxing Organisation flyweight world title, outclassed and outgunned a
game challenger, who absorbed tremendous punishment at the Sydney
Entertainment Centre.

The 29-year-old champion consistently hit the target with hurtful
straight left punches to the head, and let rip to the body.

Jiminez, 26, was almost too brave for his own good, especially in the
fourth round.

A relentless Darchinyan sent the South American to the canvas in the
first 20 seconds of the fourth with a volley of at least five blows.

Sensing an early finish, the Armenian-born champion pummelled his
opponent for the final 60 seconds of the round.

The one-sided fight followed a similar pattern in the fifth round
before Australian referee John Wright called a halt.

At the time of the stoppage, Darchinyan led by five points on two of
the judge’s cards and six points on the other.

Darchinyan is now undefeated in 24 professional fights, with 19 wins
by knockout.

Jiminez’s record dropped to 22 wins, five losses and one draw.

“He’s a tough guy, he took a lot of punches,” Darchinyan said.

Darchinyan was making his second defence of the IBF title he won last
December, from another Columbian, Irene Pacheco.

His victory ended a run of successive world title fight losses
inflicted upon Australians Anthony Mundine, Paul Briggs, Kostya Tszyu
and Tommy Browne.

Darchinyan said his coming options included a mandatory IBF title
defence against Irishman Damaen Kelly, and a unification bout with
World Boxing Association (WBA) title-holder Lorenzo Parra of
Venezuela.

Trainer Jeff Fenech hailed his fighter’s performance, saying it
underlined Darchinyan’s status as one of the world’s finest
flyweights.

Living up to his nickname of ‘The Raging Bull’, Darchinyan pawed at
the canvas with his boot as he waited for the bout to start.

As expected, Jiminez tried to take the fight to the Australian, but
his forward lunges proved ineffective and he landed few meaningful
blows on the champion.

The Australian peppered the challenger with straight lefts throughout
the first round and in the second, alternated his left hand attack
between head and body.

He wobbled the outclassed Colombian in the latter stages of the third
before escalating his assault even further in the fourth.

“From the second round, I felt I could stop him, I didn’t know how
long it would go,” Darchinyan said.

“I felt good, I had good power and I stopped him, like I said I would
at the press conference.”

Darchinyan said he would head to Armenia for a two-week holiday on
September 5 before returning to Australia to finalise the date of his
wedding to his fiancee, Olga.

The five-bout card produced plenty of action, but less than 14 full
rounds.

Unbeaten Australians Billy Dib and Ahmed Elomar each scored easy
second-round stoppage wins over outclassed opponents in IBO Asia
Pacific title fights.

Featherweight Elomar improved his professional log to 9-0 by winning
the vacant title against Thai Donchai Tiabkoon, while Dib extended
his record to 7-0 by winning the vacant junior lightweight crown
against Ugandan Michael Kizza.