Agence France Presse
Feb 8 2009

Boxer Darchinyan stops Arce to retain undisputed super flyweight title

ANAHEIM, California (AFP) ‘ Vic Darchinyan pummelled Jorge Arce into a
technical knockout after 11 rounds to retain his undisputed super
flyweight world title.

The Armenian-born Australian Darchinyan dominated from the start,
taking the fight to two-time champion Arce in every round with no
seeming concern for the Mexican challenger’s dangerous
counter-punches.

The third round saw a welter of big punches from both
fighters. Southpaw Darchinyan kept pushing, landing straight shots and
uppercuts through the middle rounds that left Arce with both eyes
swelling.

Arce was clearly fading – his legs shaky and his attack all but gone
by the 11th, when he also had a bleeding cut over his right eye.

At the end of the round, referee Raul Caiz stopped the fight on the
advice of ring doctor Paul Wallace.

"I told you, I’m going to punish him, and I’m going to finish him,"
said Darchinyan, who improved to 32-1-1 with 26 wins inside the
distance.

"I think you could see in round 11, when the round finished, he was
almost ready to go down.

"I wanted a clean knockout, not a technical knockout, but, still, I’m
happy with my fight."

He defended his World Boxing Association, World Boxing Council and
International Boxing Federation belts.

Darchinyan is the first fighter to hold all three titles in the
115-pound class.

Arce fell to 51-5-1 with 39 knockouts and suffered the second knockout
of his career.

The build-up to the bout was marked by trash-talking on both sides,
but Darchinyan was respectful in victory.

"He surprised me," he admitted. "I didn’t expect him to fight like he
did. He proved he was tough and a good fighter. I hit him with some
good shots and he kept coming."

Darchinyan had captured the IBF title in February of 2008 with a
fifth-round knockout of Russian Dmitri Kirilov.

Nine months later he claimed the other two belts with a victory over
Mexico’s Cristian Mijares.

Immediately after the bout, the battered Arce said he didn’t think the
fight should have been stopped.

"I don’t know why the doctor stopped the fight," he said. "Going into
the last round, a fighter has a puncher’s chance."

But he was later taken to hospital after experiencing breathing
problems.

Tiburcio Garcia, Arce’s trainer told AFP that the fighter was alert,
and the hospital trip was a "precautionary measure".