The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, Australia)
August 28, 2004 Saturday

Goodnight Irene, vows Vic

by GRANTLEE KIEZA

FOR a little bloke with an embarrassing first name, Irene Pacheco
lacks nothing in confidence.

Facing the undefeated, hard-hitting Australian flyweight Vic
Darchinyan next week, the IBF champion from Colombia declares
“Darchinyan has a serious problem coming across my path.”
Darchinyan, who represented Armenia at the Sydney Olympics and has
lived here ever since, fights Pacheco at the Seminole Indian Casino
in Hollywood, Florida next Saturday afternoon (Sydney time) and has
been training with Jeff Fenech and world super-middleweight champ
Danny Green in Los Angeles for the last two weeks.

The clash is a battle of unbeaten southpaw sluggers.

Pacheco has 23 KOs in his 30 wins and Darchinyan 16 KOs in 21
victories.

Pacheco, 33, has not fought since stopping Irishman Damaen Kelly in
Colombia last September.

Kelly outpointed Australia’s world title challenger Hussein Hussein
at the Atlanta Olympics but could not handle Pacheco’s speed and
power in their title fight and succumbed after six rounds of constant
bombardment.

Despite his layoff, Pacheco comes into the fight confident.

“I started training way back on January 13,” he told American
reporters.

“And I have hardly been out of the gym. I took just one break not to
overtrain but I got right back into the gym.

Darchinyan, 28, has been sparring world-class fighters such as
Hussein Hussein, Nedal Hussein and Lovemore Ndou, who has switched to
a southpaw stance to mimic Pacheco’s loose limbed style.

Pacheco won the world title in 1999 but has fought just six times in
the years since.

In fact in the last four years he has boxed four times compared to 21
starts for the Australian.

“It is not good for Pacheco to be out of the ring so long,”
Darchinyan said.

“I will pressure him from the start. That is why I am called The
Raging Bull. I will destroy him and bring the title back to Sydney.”
Darchinyan’s title shot comes in a huge week for Australian boxing.
The following day Central Coast rugby league prop Kali Meehan fights
Lamon Brewster for the WBO world heavyweight title in Las Vegas.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress