Gold Coast Bulletin (Australia)
August 26, 2005 Friday
Vic at brutal;
best: Fenech
JEFF Fenech yesterday rated Vic Darchinyan’s ruthless demolition of
challenger Jair Jiminez as the best performance of the world champion
flyweight’s career.
The Fenech camp is also confident Darchinyan’s mandatory defence
against Irishman Damaen Kelly will be held in Australia.
Darchinyan’s manager Robert Joske said the IBF had set an October 27
deadline for the fight with the 32-year-old Belfast-based boxer.
The 29-year-old champion improved his professional record to 24-0 by
taking just five rounds to demoralise Colombian Jiminez, the
ninth-ranked contender.
Trainer Fenech, who convinced Darchinyan to relocate to Australia
after representing Armenia at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, described
Wednesday night’s effort from his IBF and IBO champion as perfect.
“He was great, I just thought people don’t realise how good his
opponent was, and just how easy he handled him,” said Fenech.
“He made the guy do everything that he wanted. That’s a show of real
class.
“I was very worried. I thought it was going to be our toughest fight.
“I think it was his best one by far, especially because of the guy
that he fought. He didn’t rush. A lot of times he was behind the jab
and he brought him on to punches instead of doing what he always
does.”
After taking a two-week holiday in Armenia, which he has not visited
since winning the IBF title last December, Darchinyan will resume
training for his fight with Kelly, who has a 21-2 professional
record.
With the top two spots vacant, third ranked Kelly is the highest
ranked contender. Kelly was the initial choice of opponent for
Wednesday night’s fight, but couldn’t agree terms with promoter
William Takataka.
“I tried to bring him over here but he wanted too much money,” said
Takataka.