Sydney Morning Herald , Australia Aug 25 2005 Darchinyan retains world title with powerhouse display By Brad Walter August 25, 2005 Vic Darchinyan made Jair Jiminez pay for the postponement of his wedding by knocking out the Colombian challenger in last night's flyweight world-title bout at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. Cheered on by a vocal crowd that included Kostya Tszyu, Swans star Barry Hall and NRL players from the Bulldogs, Wests Tigers and St George Illawarra, Darchinyan stopped Jiminez in the fifth round to retain his IBF and IBO belts. His 26-year-old opponent, whose visa problems had caused the fight to be postponed last month, put up a brave showing but was no match for Darchinyan and always seemed certain to become his 24th victim in as many bouts. As he is due to have a mandatory defence of his IBF title against Irishman Damaen Kelly within the next three months, Darchinyan said he had been forced to put off his planned wedding to fiancee Olga Stavborn. "I will now go home to Armenia by myself for a short holiday and then come back and start preparing for my next fight," Darchinyan said after the bout. "We will talk about a new wedding date after that." Having predicted at Tuesday's weigh-in that he would deliver a third-round knockout, Darchinyan seemed keen to end the fight earlier and attacked from the outset. Two of the judges had him ahead by five points and the third by six when referee John Wright intervened two minutes and 23 seconds into the fifth round. "I was confident but he was a tough guy," Darchinyan said. "He took a lot of punches. He was unlucky tonight - unlucky he had to fight me." Having stung Jiminez with a brutal second-round body shot after landing several punishing left hooks in the first round, Darchinyan's pre-fight prediction seemed likely to come true as the Colombian staggered to his corner at the end of the third round. Darchinyan knocked him down early in the fourth round and then slipped, receiving the only decent blow from Jiminez on his way down. The 29-year-old former Olympian then pummelled his smaller rival, who buckled at the knees twice in the fifth round before the fight was eventually stopped. In the main preliminary bout, 19-year-old rising star Billy Dib retained his IBO Asia Pacific super-featherweight title with a second-round knockout of Uganda's Michael Kizza. Dib, who has styled himself on the colourful Prince Naseem Hamed, had earlier twice knocked down Kizza, whose best form of defence was a series of rugby league tackles that would have impressed Manly coach Des Hasler after his team's performance last weekend. Earlier, another up-and-coming Sydneysider, Ahmed Elomar, won the vacant IBO Asia Pacific featherweight title when referee Garry Dean stopped his bout with Thailand's Denchai Sor Tiabkoon in the second round.
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