Vic Darchinyan knocks out Tomas Rojas in two

"The Raging Bull" rages again.

Vic Darchinyan was being outboxed a bit early by long and tall Tomas Rojas, but a second round, chin-busting left hand knocked out the Mexican challenger, giving Darchinyan a great win to close out a 2009 that got a bit rocky in the summer.

After stepping up to 118 pounds and losing a tight, entertaining battle with Joseph Agbeko in July, Darchinyan (33-2-1, 27 KO) moved back to 115 pounds and took on a very credible, very dangerous challenger who was on quite a roll. And Rojas (32-12-1, 22 KO) was looking good early, catching Darchinyan and timing him fairly well.

But it was a small, 17-foot ring, and eventually, Vic Darchinyan's power reigned supreme.

He caught Rojas near the ropes, and clipped him with an overhand left. Rojas then did the old "gimme what ya got!" hand gesture, and well, he got what Darchinyan had. A stiff left hand crushed Rojas' chin, sending him down hard to the mat. Rojas' head bounced off the canvas, and he laid with his head under the ropes, done for the evening.

After the fight, Darchinyan and promoter Gary Shaw talked about a rematch with Nonito Donaire, who took Darchinyan's "0" in 2007. While I agree with some that Donaire is always going to be a terrible matchup for Darchinyan, there's no better fight at 115 pounds, and it's a rematch people want to see. Donaire has been fighting lesser guys -- not bad opponents, but not Darchinyan, either. Hopefully that can happen next summer, as Donaire has a fight already scheduled for February on another Top Rank Pinoy Power pay-per-view.

Our live coverage continues just one post down from this as we await the Bradley-Peterson main event on Showtime.