Darchinyan destroys Maldonado
Australian-Armenian Vic Darchinyan stopped Mexico's Luis Maldonado in the eighth round to retain the International Boxing Federation flyweight world title.
Referee Joe Cortez stopped the bout at 1min 38sec of the eighth round of the scheduled 12-round bout, after Darchinyan staggered Maldonaldo with another of the powerful lefts he used throughout to punish the game challenger.
Darchinyan remained unbeaten, improving to 26-0 with 21 wins inside the distance. Maldonado suffered the first loss of his career, falling to 33-1-1 with 25 wins inside the distance.
"I feel very good, very comfortable, very happy," Darchinyan said.
Darchinyan opened a small cut over Maldonado's right eye that was widened by an accidental head-butt in the third round.
In the sixth, Darchinyan put together a series of punches to drop Maldonado to one knee - the first knockdown of his career.
Maldonado stood quickly, took an eight-count and resumed fighting before Darchinyan closed the round with another big left.
"He's tough," Darchinyan said. "He took a lot of punches."
The fight was supposed to be on the undercard of the "War to Settle the Score" between Jose Luis Castillo and Diego Corrales.
But the anticipated third fight between the two - for Corrales's World Boxing Council lightweight belt - was cancelled when Castillo failed to make the weight.
As was his right, Corrales pulled out of the fight.
He had made the opposite decision last October, when he went ahead with their second clash despite Castillo's failure to make the weight and suffered a fourth-round knockout. The repeat of the weight fiasco left Castillo's promoter, Bob Arum, "mortified and completely embarrassed".
-Agence France-Presse
