Darchinyan KOs Rojas and Calls Nonito Donaire Out

Pound-for-pound champion Vic Darchinyan knocked out Tomas Rojas in the second round of their all out brawl WBC super flyweight title fight at the Agua Caliente casino in Rancho Mirage, California on Saturday night.

The fight was all action from bell to bell, with both fighters trading and standing toe to toe. Both Darchinyan and Rojas landed some heavy power shots on each other in the first round.

In the second round, both fighters were just as eager to trade as Darchinyan got more aggressive and started to throw wild punches, with conviction, at Rojas. Vic had pressured Rojas against the ropes and landed a big wild punch—that initially appeared to be a body shot—that knocked Rojas down flat on his back, with his head under the ropes.

When reviewing the instant replay, it was determined that it was a punch landed on the chin that knocked Rojas out.

More importantly, in the post fight interview when asked who he would like to fight next, Darchinyan called out both Nonito Donaire and Joseph Agbeko—the only two fighters that have defeated Darchinyan.

Ever since the loss to Donaire, the public and fans of both Darchinyan and Donaire have been wanting a rematch. In the past, Vic's promoter Gary Shaw would not even mention Donaire's name when Showtime commentator Jim Gray would directly ask them about a Donaire rematch, but this Saturday night it was completely different.

Even Gary Shaw stated that he was trying to contact Top Rank, Donaire's current promoters, to make a deal for the rematch, and then he even stated he would be calling the WBA directly to attempt to make the rematch happen.

Showtime boxing analyst Al Berstain stated that he felt if Darchinyan fought Donaire the same way he fought Rojas tonight, then he will get knocked out again. Berstain felt Darchinyan must fight Donaire the same way he fought Cristian Mijares in order to be successful.

Berstain is a bigger fan of the more technical fighters and always tends to side with the more complete technically sound fighter rather than the one-dimensional power slugger.

I personally agree with Berstain that it appeared Darchinyan is back to his old careless wild fighting style that leaves him open for accurate counter punchers, such as Nonito Donaire.

However, I am more than happy to hear that his promoter, Shaw, has now agreed to pursue the rematch, and I hope it can be made as soon as possible, and to preferably be held in the Southern California area which has large populations of both fighters' Filipino and Armenian backgrounds.