VIC WON’T CHANGE KNOCKOUT ATTITUDE

Sydney Morning Herald, Australia
March 7 2007

VIC Darchinyan said yesterday he would not chang his approach or
attitude to fights despite being saddened by the damage he inflicted
upon Mexican Victor Burgos last weekend.

The IBF and IBO champion returned to Sydney yesterday after his
12th-round stoppage of Burgos, who underwent emergency brain surgery
after being carried from the ring on a stretcher.

On Monday, Burgos awoke from a medically induced coma after surgery
that involved a blood clot being removed from his head. Darchinyan
was heartened to hear about his opponent’s improving condition after
speaking to his own agent in the US shortly after returning to Sydney.

Prior to the fight, Darchinyan predicted a first-round knockout and
yesterday felt that Burgos would have suffered far less if that had
eventuated, rather than the 12 rounds of punishment the 32-year-old
Mexican endured in California.

Asked whether what had happened would trigger a change in his attitude
and renowned attacking approach, Darchinyan said: "I am a professional
fighter with 23 years’ boxing experience, I just can’t change. It’s
boxing, this can happen to anyone."

Darchinyan’s trainer, Billy Hussein, also felt his charge wouldn’t
be adversely affected by the events of last weekend and thought they
would actually make him mentally tougher.

"Vic is pretty strong, mentally very strong and I don’t think this
will stop him, I think it will make him a better fighter," Hussein
said. "In his head he knows he can hurt people – at the end of the
day, unfortunately, that’s boxing. You’ve got to knock your opponent
out and that’s what he loves doing."

However, Hussein noted Darchinyan had still been hit pretty hard
by the events of last weekend, saying: "He is a human being, too;
as much as he likes to knock his opponents out, he’s got a big heart
and soft heart, too."

The undefeated southpaw felt a fight in the super-flyweight division
against his main target, Jorge Arce of Mexico, was 60 per cent likely
to happen later this year. He would also like to move up another couple
of divisions to challenge the winner of the re-match of last weekend’s
main event, in which Rafael Marquez took the WBC super-bantamweight
title from Israel Vazquez.

Darchinyan said he would discuss his options with his American
promoter, Gary Shaw.

"He is very interested in putting me in a big fight in Australia,"
he said. "Also, we have decided after my next fight in America to
travel together to Armenia and meet government people and put on a
big fight in the capital, Yerevan, in [an] 8000-seat stadium."

Former IBF light-flyweight Burgos’s problems in stepping up a division
have made Hussein wary of exposing Darchinyan to power punchers in
higher divisions. "That’s something we’ve got to be careful with when
we fight in the next division up. Obviously, Burgos went up against
a big puncher and I don’t think we will make that same mistake,"
Hussein said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress