Sydney Morning Herald , Australia
Sept 4 2011
Darchinyan wins in birth country Armenia
by Adrian Warren
September 4, 2011 – 11:29AM
AAP
Vic Darchinyan is eyeing a major boxing world title clash Panama’s WBA
bantamweight Super champion Anselmo Moreno after making a triumphant
return to Armenia.
Sydney-based Darchinyan retained his IBO bantamweight world title with
a convincing 12-round unanimous points win over South African
challenger Evans Mbamba in the Armenian capital of Yerevan early
Sunday (AEST).
It was Armenia’s first professional boxing promotion and Australian
citizen Darchinyan’s first bout in the country of his birth since his
amateur days more than a decade ago.
The Armenian president and several Russian dignitaries were among a
capacity crowd of almost 8000 who witnessed a dominant display by
Darchinyan (37-3-1, 27 KOs).
He controlled the fight after knocking down Mbamba (18-2, 9 KOs) in
the first round.
The game South African absorbed plenty of power punches, as Darchinyan
won 120-107 on two cards and 119-107 on the other.
“Evans Mbamba was very, very tough, he was extremely well conditioned.
He was a great warrior,” Darchinyan’s manager Elias Nassar told AAP.
Nassar revealed Darchinyan would probably fight again in December,
with Moreno (31-1-1, 11 KOs, the likely opponent.
Southpaw Moreno, 26, has won his last 25 fights since his only loss in 2002.
“Vic would consolidate his standing with a win there,” Nassar said.
Darchinyan, who needed some post-fight treatment on his face following
some head clashes with Mbamba, was accompanied into the ring by both
Australian and Armenian flags.
Nassar was stunned by the level of vocal support for Darchinyan in Yerevan.
“The crowd was just unbelievable, absolutely deafening…as we walked
into the ring it was just mind blowing,” Nassar said.
He was adamant Darchinyan hadn’t been affected by the many
distractions and calls upon his time.
Nassar revealed Darchinyan had taken and made hundreds of phone calls
in the leadup to the fight.
“Vic was on the phone up until three hours before the fight,” Nassar said.
‘He was the on phone a lot organising. He was the only one that could
speak Armenian for us and English and it was just very hard for Vic.
“It was a good experience, but there was a lot of hard work for
everyone trying to organise the thing.”
He said Darchinyan had got great support from several prominent
footballers back in Australia, including Brisbane AFL superstar
Jonathan Brown, Geelong AFL stars Cameron Mooney, Steve Johnson and
Andrew Mackie and Parramatta rugby league players.