VIC DARCHINYAN WINS 12-ROUND UD OVER ERIC BARCELONA IN AUSTRALIA

EastsideBoxing.com
May 20 2010

James Slater – A short time ago in Parramatta, Australia, 34-year-old
Vic Darchinyan won a commanding 12-round unanimous decision over tough
and durable Filipino Eric Barcelona. The Armenian-born southpaw dropped
Barcelona three times en-route to his clear, 120-103, 118-105,116-108
points victory.

Now 35-2-1(27), "Raging Bull" Darchinyan also picked up the vacant IBO
bantamweight belt. 28-year-old Barcelona, who retained his reputation
as a fighter who is both as tough as they come and who has never been
stopped, fell to 51-18-4(19)..

Darchinyan, who will now look for a big fight – possibly against this
coming Saturday’s Vazquez-Marquez IV winner – had things his own way
all night today. Barcelona, also a lefty, came to fight, and he came
out pretty fast in the 1st-round, even catching the man who has won
titles at flyweight and super-flyweight with a left hand to the head.

Generally, however, it was all Darchinyan once he got into his groove
and put the pressure on.

There hade been rumours before the fight that Darchinyan was nursing
a sore left hand, yet he landed the shot a number of times to good
effect. The first knockdown the southpaw banger scored, in the
5th-round, looked something like a slip, but the second knockdown
came courtesy of a hard and nasty left hand.

Barcelona, who was also docked points for low blows – in the 6th and
again in the final round – was game throughout and he tried to put
pressure of his own on the star fighter. Even in the final couple of
rounds, when he was hopelessly behind on the cards and knowing it,
the Filipino was firing as best he could. His aggression saw him
take another hard shot, though, and he suffered his third knockdown
of the night in the 11th.

Looking to get himself a last-round KO, Darchinyan almost succeeded,
wobbling the visiting fighter with another left hand to the head
in the 12th. Barcelona survived to hear the bell, and though he can
still claim to have never been stopped as a pro, before tonight he
had never even been put down. Darchinyan’s power will hopefully be
put to a much sterner test in his next outing.

A fight between Vic and the winner of Saturday’s "Once and Four All"
would be a very interesting fight (providing the Vazquez-Marquez
winner has enough left to be able to fight again!) as too would a
fight between Darchinyan and the winner of the Yonny Perez-Abner Mares
bantamweight title clash – which will be the co-main event on Saturday.

With a rematch against Nonito Donaire apparently off for now (maybe
even for good), Darchinyan must look elsewhere for a big fight. Either
of the two mentioned above would suffice!