Australia-based Armenian Vic Darchinyan became the undisputed world super flyweight champion on Saturday with a knockout win over Mexican Cristian Mijares in their title unification bout.
Darchinyan came into the bout with his IBF belt on the line while Mijares risked his WBC and WBA titles. Darchinyan left with all three, knocking Mijares down with a left uppercut in the first round and then finishing him off with a jolting straight left in the ninth.
IBF champ Darchinyan dominated the match of two southpaws from start to finish.
PHOTO: AP
“I promised to show my skills and knock him out and I kept my promise,” Darchinyan said. “I was always confident I was the best fighter. I had beaten guys that had beaten him.”
Mijares, known for boxing skills and not power, said earlier that intelligence would beat strength. But he did not fight a smart fight, instead trying to mix it up with his hard-hitting foe.
“My heart came like a Mexican and I did not fight my fight,” Mijares said through a translator.
A native of Armenia who has been based in Sydney for all his professional career, Darchinyan had won all but one round on each judges’ card before he stopped the Mexican fighter as the ninth round ended.
■DONAIRE RETAINS TITLE
AFP, LAS VEGAS
Nonito Donaire of the Philippines retained his International Boxing Federation flyweight world title on Saturday with a sixth-round technical knockout of South African Moruti Mthalane.
Referee Joe Cortez stopped the fight at 1:31 of the sixth after Donaire had opened a cut on the inside of Mthalane’s left eyelid.
Donaire improved to 21-1 with 13 victories inside the distance, while Mthalane fell to 22-3, with 15 knockouts.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
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