IN THE RING, VIC DARCHINYAN IS A DIFFERENT PERSON
Kevork Djansezian
Los Angeles Times
a-sp-boxing31-2008oct31,0,3703572.story
Oct 31 2008
CA
IBF champion Vic Darchinyan, above, will fight WBC/WBA champion
Cristian Mijares in a super-flyweight match on Saturday at the Home
Depot Center.
The IBF super-flyweight champion is remorseful for what happened to
Victor Burgos after pummeling him, but his mentality hasn’t changed for
his upcoming bout against Cristian Mijares at the Home Depot Center.
By Lance Pugmire October 31, 2008
Under the same spotlights and on the same canvas that he’ll perform
Saturday night, Vic Darchinyan last year nearly beat a man to death.
Darchinyan, constantly flinging a punishing left hand that his promoter
calls a "whipping hammer," knocked down Mexico’s Victor Burgos once
in the second round of their March 2007 flyweight title fight at the
Home Depot Center in Carson. He pummeled Burgos so badly in the 12th
that the referee stopped the fight and Burgos slumped trying to rest
on a stool.
Hours later, Burgos had emergency brain surgery to remove a blood
clot from his head. He remained comatose for days from what Armando
Garcia, the California State Athletic Commission executive officer,
described as "a boxing-related accident."
Southern California boxing publicist Alex Camponovo, a friend of
the Burgos family residing in Tijuana, said Burgos is "still in
rehabilitation. He has had to re-learn everything. How to walk. How
to talk."
Darchinyan on fight night was denied an opportunity to visit his fallen
opponent at the hospital, but he has followed Burgos’ progress from
a distance.
Darchinyan, 32, an Armenian who resides in Australia, said, "I called
through my promoter and heard he’s getting better. I found out he’s
OK. I was very happy."
This is the part of boxing that is nearly impossible to balance,
especially for a fighter.
"You know, it’s boxing," Darchinyan said. "There’s two guys in the
ring, and if you don’t punch him, he’ll punch you, and the same thing
that happened [to Burgos] can happen to you. At the end of the day,
I’m concerned with my opponent, and I want him to be able to go home
to his family, not to the hospital.
"But in the ring, I want to destroy him."
Darchinyan (30-1-1, 24 knockouts) doesn’t hesitate to say that’s
his plan Saturday when he returns to Carson as International Boxing
Federation super-flyweight champion to fight Cristian Mijares
(35-3-2, 14 KOs), the World Boxing Council and World Boxing
Assn. super-flyweight champ.
Mijares, a popular fighter from Mexico, is a slight favorite over
the southpaw Darchinyan.
"I’m going to press him, push him around, punish him, and knock him
out," Darchinyan said. "I’m going to destroy him."
If it sounds insensitive, that’s because Darchinyan is in fight mode,
promoter Gary Shaw said.
"He’s remorseful about Burgos, he was truly concerned and worried
about what happened, but when it comes to fighting, Vic’s a different
person," Shaw said. "He really wants to hurt the opponent. All he
thinks about is winning, winning by knockout and hurting the opponent.
"No one wants to make someone incapacitated, or ruin that person’s
family. Believe me, I’ve seen bad things happen in the ring, and I was
sick to my stomach over Burgos, but there’s two Vics at work here. I
eat all my meals with him, and I already know tonight’s dinner speech:
‘I’m going to break [Mijares] in half. . . .’ "
Darchinyan is 2-1-1 in the four fights post-Burgos. He was knocked
out by Nonito Donaire and lost his IBF flyweight title in his first
bout after the Carson victory. He rebounded in August to win the
super-flyweight belt with a fifth-round TKO of Dimitri Kirilov.
Now, he faces Mijares, a savvy, technical fighter who boasts
convincing victories over Jorge Arce and former U.S. Olympian Jose
Navarro. Darchinyan predicts a knockout by the third round.
"I don’t want to go to the hospital again, but I will knock him out
cold — and destroy him," Darchinyan said.