Australian Associated Press Pty. Ltd.
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February 16, 2007 Friday 5:16 PM AEST

Box: Darchinyan setting sights on Arce and Pacquiao

by Adrian Warren

SYDNEY Feb 16

Dual world flyweight champion Vic Darchinyan believes his dream
fight with Mexican Jorge Arce will happen this year as he targets a
rise through the divisions to set up a clash with Filipino superstar
Manny Pacquiao.

Sydney-based Darchinyan will defend his IBF and IBO world titles
against Mexican Victor Burgos in Los Angeles on March 3.
Having flagged it would be his final fight as a flyweight,
Darchinyan is set to jump between one and three divisions in pursuit
of more championship belts.
Arce, who Darchinyan has called out for the past year, will
challenge compatriot Cristian Mijares in San Antonio on April 14.
As recently as last month Darchinyan believed Arce would never
fight him, but has changed his mind after encouraging noises from the
influential American cable television networks HBO and Showtime.
"I think this fight is going to happen this year because Showtime
and HBO are pushing very much for this fight," Darchinyan said.
"This fight is going to happen because me and him are rated in the
top 10 most exciting fighters in the world and promoters, fans,
everyone in boxing is waiting for this fight."
Darchinyan said a fight with popular Arce would increase his
exposure but ultimately he wanted to jump five divisions and fight
Pacquiao, who is widely regarded as the world’s second best
pound-for-pound fighter behind Floyd Mayweather.
"I know he’s a strong guy and very powerful, when I fight him
people will know about me more and start following me more and
Australians are going to catch me," Darchinyan said.
More recognition from his adopted countrymen is a delicate subject
with Armenian-born Darchinyan.
His fight with Burgos is not scheduled to be shown live by any of
the regular Australian pay television providers.
"It’s very disappointing, I couldn’t believe it when they told me
about that," Darchinyan said.
Conversely the fight will be shown live back in Armenia, where
Darchinyan said the country usually stopped working to watch his
fights.
Darchinyan is sure to have plenty of support for his fight with
former IBF light flyweight world champion Burgos as he said around
one million people of Armenian background lived in California.
The bout will be the main support to the clash between WBC super
bantamweight champion Israel Vazquez, both of whom are also potential
targets for ambitious Darchinyan.
The hard hitting 31-year-old southpaw said if he couldn’t fight
Arce next, he wanted to climb three divisions and challenge the
winner of the Sanchez-Vasquez bout.
"I can see myself moving up three divisions at one time, if
someone wants to fight me for a title, it doesn’t matter," Darchinyan
said.
"I don’t want to just move up and fight for the number one
ranking, I have to fight for a title and if any champion wants to
fight me three divisions up, I’m going to jump up three."
Darchinyan, who has an imposing record of 27-0 (21 KOs) said he
was looking for a quick KO of 32-year-old Burgos, whose log stands at
39-14-3 (23 KOs).