VIC DARCHINYAN KO2 TOMAS ROJAS

Lacklustre in his last fight, Vic Darchinyan got back to the power-and-pressure form that has made him one of the great champions in boxing’s lighter weight classes when he flattened Tomas Rojas in the second round of their 115-pound title bout in Showtime’s co-main event on Saturday.

When Darchinyan lost to Joseph Agbeko in July it was one of his most disappointing showings. He swung and missed and looked clumsy and almost ordinary. Against Rojas, though, Darchinyan showed the sort of disciplined aggression that took him to a string of stoppage wins in title bouts.

Rojas fought well for as long as he was standing. Unfortunately for the Mexican boxer, he wasn’t standing long in this meeting of southpaws.

It’s surprising how a fighter’s form can change from one fight to the next. Although Darchinyan’s fight with Agbeko was close on the scorecards, there were those who started to term him overrated. On Saturday night, though, Darchinyan had an unstoppable look about him.

Even when Rojas was scoring with both hands and looking good, I always felt that just one big punch was going to change things in a hurry.

My biggest concern about Rojas was that he might get crumpled by a body blow, as happened in his loss to Jorge Arce. Darchinyan’s finishing shot was a left hand to the chin, though, thrown straight through the middle from his southpaw stance. Once Rojas went down there was no way he was getting up — well, not in time to beat the count, anyway — with the end coming six seconds from the end of the second round.

I think that Rojas might have got carried away with the success he was having. He was catching Darchinyan easily enough but not hurting him. It looked to me as if Darchinyan knew exactly what he was doing and he was prepared to get peppered a bit as long as he could close the distance and get within firing range. He waited till he could see the whites of Rojas’s eyes, and then he let him have it.

Rojas, possibly a bit buzzed by an overhand left, made the “Bring it on” gesture — and Darchinyan brought it.