Today was the final press conference for the Cristian Mijares and Vic Darchinyan fight at Home Depot Center in Carson, CA this Saturday night. The presser was started by 2 coin flips to determine who comes out first and what corner they use. Team Mijares won both flips and chose to come out 2nd and use the red corner. This fight has 3 belts on the line and is being called “For Pride and Country”. Mijares (36-3-2, 14 KO’s) has the WBA and WBC Super Flyweight straps and Vic (30-1-1, 24 KO’s) has the IBF Junior Bantamweight belt. This is a historic fight for the lower weight classes as it is a unification fight and also a classic match up of boxer vs. puncher. Vic is the puncher and Mijares is the boxer if you could not tell from the KO stats and both fighters are natural left handers.
It is also a clash of personalities and they are both in stark contrast. Vic is the brash, cocky guy who is 
always up for a good slug fest. He would tell the media he will “break Mijares in half” and he would “punish him and kill him” and that was just for starters. Mijares, who did not speak English, is much more laid back but also very confident. He is “amused” by Vic’s antics and all the trash talking. Mijares is promoted by Lou DiBellla and Lou called it like he saw it at the podium and said about Vic, “he is a little guy with a big mouth”. He did acknowledge Vic’s attributes but the Mijares camp seems quite ready for the fight. Vic’s promoter Gary Shaw called Vic “the Mexicana killer” and likened this fight to Marquez vs. Vazquez. He even hinted that these two could provide a trilogy like the aforementioned pair. That may be premature but this is a real deal main event and should provide plenty of drama and excitement for the Home Depot and Showtime audiences.
The presser was kept light throughout all the trash talking as Gary Shaw and Lou DiBella both remarked many times on how much they enjoy working with each other and how easy it was to make this fight. DiBella even donned an Obama mask and played around with another person in a McCain mask.
The main event is preceded by U.S. Olympian Andre Dirrell (16-0, 11 KO’s) vs. hard punching Victor Oganov (28-1, 28 KO’s) of Russia. Oganov is smaller than Dirrell but he is a broad shouldered man and it is easy to see how he is a hard puncher. Dirrell has a strong amateur foundation and the question in this fight is will he be able to stay away from the big punch and land some clean shots of his own. Both fighters were very cordial and respectful to each other and both promised a good fight.
Tickets still remain and you can go to Ticketmaster or Home Depot’s web sites and check on options.
Who do you think will win this fight?
Photos by Tom Casino/SHOWTIME
