The Australian
March 28 2005

Dachinyan eyes title unification
By Adrian Warren
March 28, 2005

AUSTRALIA’s International Boxing Federation flyweight world champion
Vic Darchinyan is hoping for a world title unification bout in Japan
while his trainer Jeff Fenech warns he has a long way to go in
another sense.

Darchinyan, 29, was today nursing the first cut eye of his boxing
career, after stopping South African Mzukisi Sikali in the eighth
round of his first title defence in Sydney last night.

Following the victory, Darchinyan promptly targeted Venezuela’s
unbeaten World Boxing Association (WBA) flyweight world champion
Lorenzo Parra as his preferred next opponent.

Armenian-born Darchinyan revealed he was very keen to fight in Japan,
where 26-year-old Parra, who has won all 25 of his professional
bouts, has made two of his past three defences.

“I know they give him (Parra) a good rating in Japan and that’s why I
want to take the belt and go and fight in Japan,” Darchinyan said.

“I know many times I have told (Team Fenech matchmaker) Angelo
(Hyder) I want to fight in Japan and he said they don’t know you.

“The WBA title is very popular in Japan and that’s why I want to take
that belt and go and fight there.”

After successive title bouts against southpaws, Darchinyan was also
keen to tackle Parra because the Venezuelan boxes from an orthodox
stance.

“I’m a little bit sick of southpaws, I want an orthodox fighter,”
Darchinyan said.

“I like orthodox, I can come closer. When I fight southpaws, I don’t
know exactly what to do, but with orthodox, I feel very confident.”

While Darchinyan extended his perfect professional record to 23 wins,
18 by KO, both trainers felt he was still far from the finished
article.

“He’s got a lot to work and it’s not just boxing skills, his overall
conditioning,” Fenech said.

“There’s no doubt about Vic and his heart, but there’s a lot more to
it, it’s not getting hit and doing the right thing.

“I just thought he was too easy to hit.”

Sikali’s trainer Harold Volbrecht praised Darchinyan for being
awkward and strong, but felt he would need more than power to beat
champions such as Parra and Thailand’s World Boxing Council world
title holder Pongsaklek Wonjongkam, another of the Australian’s
targets.

“He will have to sharpen up his boxing ability,” Volbrecht said.

“He’s not going to beat everybody with his power and he will have to
start to learn to pace himself and slow down and box and throw more
combinations.”

Meanwhile, Volbrecht revealed details of the problem that led to his
33-year-old fighter quitting in the eighth round despite trailing by
just one point on two of the judges’ cards and three points on the
other.

“Vic gave him a bad cut inside his bottom lip and he was bleeding a
lot inside his mouth,” he said.

“Blood was running down his throat and that’s when he decided to give
it up, because Vic caught him with some good shots.”

Darchinyan said his cut was caused by an accidental head clash, which
he thought was just as much his fault as his opponent’s as “we came
too close together”.