Darchinyan knocks out Gabi

In a scintillating display of brute strength and power, Vic Darchinyan of Armenia recovered from a slow start and scored a one-punch knockout of Filipino challenger Diosdado "Prince" Gabi in the eighth round to retain his IBF and IBO flyweight belts yesterday at the Chumash Resort Casino in Sta. Yñez, California.

Aside from stretching his unbeaten record to 25-0 now spiked with 20 stoppages, the Australia-based Darchinyan also took credit for being the first fighter to floor the once unstoppable Gabi, who fell to 26-3-1 with 19KOs.

Darchinyan dropped Gabi with a crushing left hand. Although glassy-eyed, Gabi managed to get up at the count of nine, but referee David Mendoza wisely intervened and waved off the bout at 2:42 of the eight round to prevent the fallen Filipino warrior from further harm.

"Gabi was glassy eyed and his equilibrium was off," Mendoza explained.

Gabi actually was able to work his way in the first three rounds where he hit Darchinyan with his well-calculated jabs and solid body shots.

Gabi's punches, however, clearly lacked power and as the bout progressed, Darchinyan deftly capitalized on his strength to wear out the Davao City fighter.

"After the third round, Darchinyan got into his "zone" and started landing super hard straight lefts that began to take their toll on Gabi. Gabi was able to counter the shots at time with hook to the body and looping shots to the top of Vic's head, but those assaults became more infrequent as the fight progressed," stated Jason Aniel in his report at ringtalk.com.

"Darchinyan's slugger style also made it difficult for Gabi because the "Raging Bull" used bully like tactics, shoving Gabi down multiple times in rounds six and seven," Aniel added.

After the fight, Darchinyan, who nailed his seventh straight win by knockout, was all praise for Gabi.



"I could not believe Gabi took so many punches," Darchinyan told boxingscene.com

"I was impressed. He is a really good fighter with an impressive jab. I saw he was tough after the first few rounds, so I started to move around more and wait for openings. I gained more power with each round and felt stronger as the fight progressed," Darchinyan added.