Brad O
07-06-2007, 05:58 AM
The following is from the Sports Ticker:
Darchinyan aims to make his mark on world scene
July 4, 2007
By Mark Staniforth PA SportsTicker Boxing Writer
He is 5-5 of pure flyweight ferocity, and on Saturday night in Connecticut, Vic Darchinyan intends to extend an unbeaten 28-fight record which has not seen him taken the full distance since August 2003.
The Australian's concussive punching power has seen him emerge as a worldwide star in a division usually associated with fast-limbed tacticians who pursue their careers on the undercards of bigger men.
Darchinyan will defend his IBF title against Nonito Donaire in his first fight since his final-round stoppage of Victor Burgos in Carson City in March, which left his opponent hospitalized with serious head injuries for over a month.
But the 31-year-old insists the chilling experience of seeing Burgos fighting for his life will not affect his ability to pursue more of the knockout victories he has come to crave.
"My mindset is all about a knockout," said Darchinyan. "When I am punching a person, I can feel it. If I am punching a human, I can knock him out. When I am punching I become stronger and stronger.
"It is all part of my mentality. I am ready for it. I would love to be a heavyweight. I know I am going to destroy everyone. All my power, all my knockouts, are because I believe I can punch harder and knock out everyone."
Darchinyan is a restless fighter. He has talked audaciously, and a touch ridiculously, of moving up to face middleweight Jermain Taylor. The reality is a future of unification bouts at the super-fly and bantamweight limits.
It is that kind of attitude which has earned him a lucrative contract with the U.S. Showtime network, which will broadcast his fight as the co-feature alongside Travis Simms' defence of his WBA light-middleweight title.
"Everyone is going to remember me," said Darchinyan. "I have stayed as a flyweight because I wanted to unify. Now I believe it is not going to happen so I want to move up to super-flyweight and unify there.
"I have two belts and everyone who thinks they are stronger than me or can beat me, come on. I don't just want to hide and defend against small opponents. I want to fight bigger fighters because I am getting more powerful."
Darchinyan cemented his reputation as a future hard-punching star during an amateur career in Armenia, the country of his birth, where he compiled a 158-18 record with 105 knockouts.
After moving to Australia and becoming an Australian citizen in 2004, Darchinyan claimed his IBF title in December of the same year with an 11th- round stoppage of Colombian Irene Pacheco.
Coincidentally, the only one of Darchinyan's six title defenses which did not end because of his blurring fists occurred against Donaire's brother Glenn, whom he stopped via a sixth-round technical decision in October last year.
Donaire was struggling to cope with Darchinyan's power, but referee Tony Weeks deemed that the Filipino's broken jaw had come from an accidental head butt, rather than a punch. Darchinyan took the decision on the scorecards.
Darchinyan maintains it will be the same story against Nonito, Glenn's younger brother by three years, who is 17-1 with 10 stoppage wins, but has never mixed in anything approaching Darchinyan's class.
The champion also has the extra incentive of proving a point against Donaire, with many maintaining his brother was denied a rightful shot at the title when Darchinyan resorted to foul means.
"I think everyone will agree with me that it was as knockout, it was not a head butt or an elbow," Darchinyan added.
"I broke his jaw and he screeched and put his hands up. I am very upset and it is still in my mind."
Darchinyan's explosive style and his desire to push his physical boundaries could make the lighter weights their most fashionable since the mid-1990s light-flyweight wars between Michael Carbajal and Humberto Gonzalez.
It takes a special kind of fighter to rise above the weight issues which ensure the welterweights' mixture of speed and power, or the heavyweights' sheer knockout ability, will usually grab the headlines.
Since the halcyon days of Carbajal and Gonzalez's Tex-Mex wars, arguably only the magnificent Mexican straw-weight Ricardo Lopez has gained credibility to match that currently afforded to Darchinyan.
It is not difficult to get to the root of the popularity of the man who goes by the nickname of 'Raging Bull'.
"The first time I came to Australia for my first pro fight they told me I looked like a raging bull," said Darchinyan. "The Armenians explained to me what Raging Bull means because you are so like a bull coming forward and you want to destroy your opponent. I loved it because I feel like it is me. I am going to find my opponent and destroy him."
:: Roy Jones has refused to rule out the possibility of a fight against the returning Felix Trinidad after the Puerto Rican former two-weight world champion announced his intention to make another comeback at the age of 33.
Jones, 38, has already admitted that if he fails to win his latest fight against Anthony Hanshaw in Biloxi on July 14, he will probably bring his own illustrious career to a close.
But he said in an interview with Puerto Rico newspaper El Nuevo Dia: "If two people, me and Tito, want it to happen then nobody is going to be able to stop it. This would be a fight that could fill Madison Square Garden or Yankee Stadium. It's a fight fans' fight between two fighters who bring fireworks into the ring."
Darchinyan aims to make his mark on world scene
July 4, 2007
By Mark Staniforth PA SportsTicker Boxing Writer
He is 5-5 of pure flyweight ferocity, and on Saturday night in Connecticut, Vic Darchinyan intends to extend an unbeaten 28-fight record which has not seen him taken the full distance since August 2003.
The Australian's concussive punching power has seen him emerge as a worldwide star in a division usually associated with fast-limbed tacticians who pursue their careers on the undercards of bigger men.
Darchinyan will defend his IBF title against Nonito Donaire in his first fight since his final-round stoppage of Victor Burgos in Carson City in March, which left his opponent hospitalized with serious head injuries for over a month.
But the 31-year-old insists the chilling experience of seeing Burgos fighting for his life will not affect his ability to pursue more of the knockout victories he has come to crave.
"My mindset is all about a knockout," said Darchinyan. "When I am punching a person, I can feel it. If I am punching a human, I can knock him out. When I am punching I become stronger and stronger.
"It is all part of my mentality. I am ready for it. I would love to be a heavyweight. I know I am going to destroy everyone. All my power, all my knockouts, are because I believe I can punch harder and knock out everyone."
Darchinyan is a restless fighter. He has talked audaciously, and a touch ridiculously, of moving up to face middleweight Jermain Taylor. The reality is a future of unification bouts at the super-fly and bantamweight limits.
It is that kind of attitude which has earned him a lucrative contract with the U.S. Showtime network, which will broadcast his fight as the co-feature alongside Travis Simms' defence of his WBA light-middleweight title.
"Everyone is going to remember me," said Darchinyan. "I have stayed as a flyweight because I wanted to unify. Now I believe it is not going to happen so I want to move up to super-flyweight and unify there.
"I have two belts and everyone who thinks they are stronger than me or can beat me, come on. I don't just want to hide and defend against small opponents. I want to fight bigger fighters because I am getting more powerful."
Darchinyan cemented his reputation as a future hard-punching star during an amateur career in Armenia, the country of his birth, where he compiled a 158-18 record with 105 knockouts.
After moving to Australia and becoming an Australian citizen in 2004, Darchinyan claimed his IBF title in December of the same year with an 11th- round stoppage of Colombian Irene Pacheco.
Coincidentally, the only one of Darchinyan's six title defenses which did not end because of his blurring fists occurred against Donaire's brother Glenn, whom he stopped via a sixth-round technical decision in October last year.
Donaire was struggling to cope with Darchinyan's power, but referee Tony Weeks deemed that the Filipino's broken jaw had come from an accidental head butt, rather than a punch. Darchinyan took the decision on the scorecards.
Darchinyan maintains it will be the same story against Nonito, Glenn's younger brother by three years, who is 17-1 with 10 stoppage wins, but has never mixed in anything approaching Darchinyan's class.
The champion also has the extra incentive of proving a point against Donaire, with many maintaining his brother was denied a rightful shot at the title when Darchinyan resorted to foul means.
"I think everyone will agree with me that it was as knockout, it was not a head butt or an elbow," Darchinyan added.
"I broke his jaw and he screeched and put his hands up. I am very upset and it is still in my mind."
Darchinyan's explosive style and his desire to push his physical boundaries could make the lighter weights their most fashionable since the mid-1990s light-flyweight wars between Michael Carbajal and Humberto Gonzalez.
It takes a special kind of fighter to rise above the weight issues which ensure the welterweights' mixture of speed and power, or the heavyweights' sheer knockout ability, will usually grab the headlines.
Since the halcyon days of Carbajal and Gonzalez's Tex-Mex wars, arguably only the magnificent Mexican straw-weight Ricardo Lopez has gained credibility to match that currently afforded to Darchinyan.
It is not difficult to get to the root of the popularity of the man who goes by the nickname of 'Raging Bull'.
"The first time I came to Australia for my first pro fight they told me I looked like a raging bull," said Darchinyan. "The Armenians explained to me what Raging Bull means because you are so like a bull coming forward and you want to destroy your opponent. I loved it because I feel like it is me. I am going to find my opponent and destroy him."
:: Roy Jones has refused to rule out the possibility of a fight against the returning Felix Trinidad after the Puerto Rican former two-weight world champion announced his intention to make another comeback at the age of 33.
Jones, 38, has already admitted that if he fails to win his latest fight against Anthony Hanshaw in Biloxi on July 14, he will probably bring his own illustrious career to a close.
But he said in an interview with Puerto Rico newspaper El Nuevo Dia: "If two people, me and Tito, want it to happen then nobody is going to be able to stop it. This would be a fight that could fill Madison Square Garden or Yankee Stadium. It's a fight fans' fight between two fighters who bring fireworks into the ring."