Vic Darchinyan v Nonito Donaire
Courtesy of boxrec.com
It's sometimes harder to remember things from recent history than it is to remember things from yesteryear and that's arguably the case with 2007 Upset of the Year that saw Nonito Donaire (17-1, 10) stopping the previously unbeaten 31 year old Vic Darchinyan (28-0, 22)
Going in to the fight Darchinyan was starting to find himself on the verges of being a top-10 pound for pound fighter. He had claimed the IBF Flyweight more than 2 and a half years earlier by stopping the previously unbeaten Irene Pacheco, and had made 6 title defenses with 5 of those coming by TKO.
Included in Darchinyan's defenses was a sole decision, a 6 round technical decision over Filipino Glenn Donaire. Glenn Donaire's younger brother Nonito would be next in the firing line for Darchinyan.
Nonito himself was relatively unknown 24 year old at this point. He was a Filipino born fighter who had been raised in the US and whilst he had a nice record to look at having only lost his second bout by a decision he hadn't beaten anyone of any real note. The best names on his record were fighters like Ilido Julio and Gilberto Bolanos, two guys who were no where near as good as their records indicated.
Going in this was meant to be another show case for Darchinyan who was bringing real life to the lower divisions in regards to American TV with his all out style. Instead in turned into a fight that helped launch a Filipino star almost from obscurity to stardom.
Going in to the fight Darchinyan was starting to find himself on the verges of being a top-10 pound for pound fighter. He had claimed the IBF Flyweight more than 2 and a half years earlier by stopping the previously unbeaten Irene Pacheco, and had made 6 title defenses with 5 of those coming by TKO.
Included in Darchinyan's defenses was a sole decision, a 6 round technical decision over Filipino Glenn Donaire. Glenn Donaire's younger brother Nonito would be next in the firing line for Darchinyan.
Nonito himself was relatively unknown 24 year old at this point. He was a Filipino born fighter who had been raised in the US and whilst he had a nice record to look at having only lost his second bout by a decision he hadn't beaten anyone of any real note. The best names on his record were fighters like Ilido Julio and Gilberto Bolanos, two guys who were no where near as good as their records indicated.
Going in this was meant to be another show case for Darchinyan who was bringing real life to the lower divisions in regards to American TV with his all out style. Instead in turned into a fight that helped launch a Filipino star almost from obscurity to stardom.
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Priced around +450 (or 9/2 for our British readers) Donaire had been all but written off going in to the bout. From his ring walk however it was obvious that he wasn't coming just to make up the numbers. Despite the fact that Donaire was there to win the crowd seemed to be notably more behind the champion than the challenger.
From the off Donaire's confidence was visible as he unleashed the first attack of the bout then continued to attack Darchinyan using his speed and reach to great advantage. Midway though the opening round Darchinyan tried to rough up Donaire by throwing him to the canvas but it didn't take long for Donaire to get back up and go back to work. Although Donaire seemed to dominate the round Darchinyan did seem to almost drop him before the bell to end of the round almost as his power took effect for the first time. Other than the shot just before the bell however it had been Donaire looking like the experienced champion whilst Darchinyan was looking like a wild novice. Donaire's success continued through the second round before the two men each tagged each other hard as Darchinyan started to have some success. It was certainly a better round for Darchinyan and one that the champion may have just taken. Darchinyan's success from the second round was soon taken away with Donaire using his reach to go to the body at the start of the third round. As well as boxing well at range Donaire was starting to land left hand counters as Vic came in. It was a left hand late in round 3 that first proved that Donaire could hurt Darchinyan when he connected. In fact those lefts had helped open up a cut on the right eye of Darchinyan. Through round 4 the action was starting to slow slightly, especially from Donaire who seemed to realise that it was the counters that were his biggest weapons. It was by far the quietest round of the fight and one that the champion seemed to take as Donaire almost took the round off until landing landing 2 eye catching shots late on. Donaire continued to fight as a counter puncher in round 5 looking to take advantage of Darchinyan's wide, looping shots. He was beginning to time the Armenian champion a bit too easily and after Darchinyan throw a lazy looking jab at the midway point of the round Donaire landed a perfect left hook that sent Darchinyan down hard. The champion, down apparently for the first time in his career was struggling to get up. Originally his legs struggled to get up then as soon as he was up right he stumbled in to the ropes as his cornerman entered the ring and the referee waved bout off (the referee calling a TKO and not a DQ). Soon after the bout had ended Darchinyan's nose was visibly bleeding and he was layed quickly on the canvas as he received medical attention. Although he was responsive, and talking there was still worries about his health, especially considering Darchinyan's previous opponent (Jose Victor Burgos) had suffered a blood clot after his bout with Darchinyan. |
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Fact Box-
Venue- Harbour Yard Arena, Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA Date- July 7th 2007 Vic Darchinyan (28-0, 22) 3th Defence of IBF Flyweight title v Nonito Donaire (17-1, 10) WBC "interim" Bantamweight champion Referee- Eddie Claudio Judges- Steve Epstein (36-40 Donaire) John McKaie (38-38) Don Trella (38-38) Outcome- Donaire TKO5 Awards- Ring Magazine Upset of the Year 2007 Ring Magazine KO of the Year 2007 The video below shows the interview fight, build up and post fight interview (including some ridiculous comments from Darchinyan), thanks to pimpgoz. |
Thankfully, as we all know Vic made a full recovery and has continued to fight to this day. He would later move up to Super Flyweight where he unified the IBF, WBA and WBC titles and scored impressive victories against Cristian Mijares, Jorge Arce and Tomas Rojas. He has since failed in world title fights at Bantamweight including losing a decision to Shinsuke Yamanaka in a WBC title tilt.
Darchinyan last fought back in May of this year defeating the over-matched Javier Gallo to move his record to an excellent 39-5-1 (28) and there is a lot of talking of him getting another world title bout later this year. For Donaire the victory over Darchinyan put him on the boxing map. He had come from being a nobody to being a somebody and by the end of the year he was regarded as the best Flyweight on the planet. Donaire would defend his newly acquired IBF Flyweight title 3 times before claiming titles at Super Flyweight, Bantamweight and Super Bantamweight as he climbed up the pound-for-pound lists. Not only was Donaire collecting title belts but he was scoring high profile victories including a TKO over Fernando Montiel which came, like the Darchinyan one, from a perfectly timed left hook and a stoppage of Japanese great Toshiaki Nishioka in what would be Nishioka's final bout. Sadly for Donaire his reputation took a big hit in his most recent bout as he was defeated by Cuban great Guillermo Rigondeaux. This was Donaire's first loss in 12 years and more than 30 bouts and saw his record falling to 31-2 (20). |
