Agence France Presse — English
February 22, 2007 Thursday 8:57 PM GMT
Boxing: Unbeaten Aussie Darchinyan eyes Pacquaio, not Thai trip
Armenian-born Australian Vic Darchinyan, who defends his
International Boxing Federation flyweight crown here next week
against Mexican Victor Burgos, is pondering moving up to face bigger
rivals.
Filipino star Manny Pacquiao is one of three foes Darchinyan hopes to
fight before ending his career, although it would mean moving up and
leaving behind the domination of his division.
That would be no mean feat as Pacquiao currently fights five
divisions and more than 8kg heavier than Darchinyan.
"I’m not jumping too much to fight him. He’s not too much bigger than
me," said Darchinyan, who would hope the superfeatherweight would
drop down at least one class. "He can make the weight. I know my
power. I know I’m good in that division."
While he hungers for a chance to face the Manila legend, the unbeaten
Aussie has no desire for a trip to Thailand and a unification bout
against 63-2 rival flyweight king Pongsaklek Wonjongkam, whom he
dismisses as a paper lion.
"I don’t feel like he’s a real champion," Darchinyan said.
Darchinyan promoter Gary Shaw ripped the Thai champion for refusing
to fight outside his homeland.
"We don’t have to go to Thailand. Let him come out of Thailand," Shaw
said. "They don’t have the money in Thailand to pay us but we have
the money in the US to pay him."
Darchinyan’s March 3 defense here also features two Mexicans as World
Boxing Council superbantamweight champion Israel Vazquez, 41-3 with
31 knockouts, will defend against IBF bantamweight champion Rafael
Marquez, 36-3 with 32 KOs.
Darchinyan, 27-0 with 21 knockouts, also wants to fight the
Marquez-Vazquez winner and Jorge Arce, the interim WBC champion
behind Pongsaklek who is 43-3 with one drawn and 33 knockouts.
But first he must dispatch Burgos, 39-14 with three drawn and 23
knockouts.
"I hope he has had enough training to give me a good fight. I want to
look nice," Darchinyan said. "I don’t want to just knock him out in
the first round. I fought more than 150 rounds in Australia getting
ready. I want to show my fitness."
Burgos, 32, is a former IBF champion who hungers to reclaim a throne.
"I’ve been training in the mountains of Mexico. I know it will be a
tough fight but I have confidence in my training and I’m going to win
another title in another weight class," Burgos said.
"He’s very confident he’s going to beat me. He’s in for a shock. He’s
going to get a big surprise. I have more experience than him. My
experience will make the difference. I’m sure I will be the champion
again."
Darchinyan countered by saying, "My other opponents have said the
same thing. You will see after two rounds how he’s going to run from
me."
"He’s the one who should be worried after the second or third round
when he figures out his punches aren’t hurting me," Burgos said. "He
has never been in a real war with other fighters."