Seconds Out
March 29 2005

Darchinyan Unstoppable says Fenech

IBF/IBO champion Vic Darchinyan

Paul Upham
Contributing Editor

After IBF flyweight world champion Vic Darchinyan’s win over IBO
champion Mzukisi Sikali by 8th round TKO on Sunday night in Sydney,
his trainer Jeff Fenech says that the improving “Raging Bull” will be
unstoppable once he learns to fight for the full three minutes of
each round.

“When he learns to do what I want him to do, that is punch for three
minutes, nobody can beat him,” said Fenech. “He stops and starts and
I don’t want him to get hit and he doesn’t need to get hit because of
his power. We have to do everything perfect in our preparation.”

29 year-old Darchinyan 23-0 (18), making the first defence of his IBF
title after he had stopped long-reigning former champion Irene
Pacheco last December, was simply too powerful for the experienced 33
year-old South African 29-6-2 (17). The only negative for the
Armenian born Australian citizen was his obvious tiredness from
rounds four to six.

Watching amongst the live audience at ringside, undisputed world
junior welterweight champion Kostya Tszyu feels that Darchinyan is
not training properly. “Vic needs to train harder,” he said. “He
needs to work harder and smarter in the gym and be able to fight for
twelve rounds.”

Co-trainer Billy Hussein felt that Darchinyan went out too fast early
looking for a spectacular knockout. “Vic trains hard, but because he
threw a lot of hard punches, you expect him to get tired,” he said.
“By about the 6th round, he got his second breath. Usually, he starts
slow, but with the excitement of fighting at home, he is trying to
impress his fans.”

Commentating for television, Team Fenech team-mate Hussein Hussein
who established his own reputation amongst the flyweight division
elite against Mexican Jorge Arce one week earlier in the USA, felt
that Darchinyan’s power was too much for Sikali.

“I was impressed with Vic, his power, strength and his speed,” he
said. “I knew as the rounds progressed, his power was going to wear
Sikali out. He was taking too many clean punches. He stood there
trading punches and you don’t do that with Vic Darchinyan. He punches
like a middleweight.”

Can Darchinyan be considered the best flyweight in the world yet? “I
think he has to beat WBC champion Pongsaklek Wonjongkam or WBA
champion Lorenzo Parra first,” said Hussein.

Fenech, the three-time world champion, has no doubt that Darchinyan
will prove to be the undisputed world champion. “We have two belts,
but there is a couple more to go yet,” he said. “Vic can beat
Wonjongkam and Parra. But he has to get in better condition in his
sparring. What he did here was what he does in the gym. I want him to
punch continuously and when he does that, nobody will beat him.”

Was Fenech happy with Darchinyan’s first world title defence?

“No,” he replied with a smile. “Because I know he is better than
that. I’m never happy with him because I just know he is so much
better.”

There has been talk of a match-up in Japan next, but Darchinyan
doesn’t care where he fights, he just wants to fight the best. “I
want the WBA champion Lorenzo Parra,” he said. “He is rated No.1 by
Ring Magazine and I only want to fight the best and I want to win the
WBA title.”

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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress