Darchinyan batters Burgos to retain IBF flyweight title

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Vic Darchinyan retained his International Boxing Federation flyweight title by stopping game challenger Victor Burgos of Mexico in the 12th round.

The Armenian-born Darchinyan, who is now an Australian citizen, overwhelmed former IBF junior flyweight champion Burgos from the start, using his crushing left hand to the body and head to dominate the scheduled 12-rounder.

Burgos, who took a crunching punch to his body in the second round, fought bravely but the accumulation of blows took its toll.

In the last round, Burgos, who had a big welt under his right eye and an abrasion on his forehead, went down after a flurry of punches and a push that was ruled a slip.

After reassuring the referee he was all right, the Mexican became to stumble backwards as he was chased by Darchinyan, who hit him with two more lefts before the referee stopped the bout at 1:27 of the round.

Burgos slumped to the canvas and had to be helped on to his stool. The 32-year-old Burgos was carried off on a stretcher and was slipping in and out of consciousness, according to ring doctor Paul Wallace.

Darchinyan, 31, improved to 28-0 in making his sixth defense of the IBF crown. Burgos dropped to 39-15-3.

"I give him good credit, he's very tough," Darchinyan told reporters. "I hope he's all right."