Los Angeles Daily News, CA
Feb 7 2009
Darchinyan confident he’ll ‘punish’ Arce
By Robert Morales, Boxing Columnist
Updated: 02/07/2009 12:35:47 AM PST
Vic Darchinyan never speaks in glowing terms about his opponents. It’s
not his style.
"You’re going to see big punches from me, fast and strong," said
Darchinyan, who tonight will defend his three super flyweight titles
against Jorge Arce of Mexico. "I’m going to make (Arce) look dumb and
stupid.
"From the first round, I don’t care. I am going to slow him down and
punish him every round. I’m going to play him like a cat and mouse and
show how dumb he is. He is going to be covering himself after the
first 20 seconds."
Showtime will televise the card from Honda Center in Anaheim.
Darchinyan has said time and again that he doesn’t respect his
opponents. His credo is: let them know what they are in for.
"I don’t underestimate my opponent," said Darchinyan, of Australia via
Armenia. "But with any opponent I tell you what I will do with them. I
believe any opponent I fight, I will dominate and destroy."
He spoke like that prior to his Nov.1 title unification fight against
Mexico’s Cristian Mijares, a slick left-handed fighter who many
thought had a chance to beat Darchinyan. But Darchinyan, a left-handed
power hitter, dominated Mijares from the opening bell and led, 79-72,
on all three scorecards before knocking out Mijares in the ninth
round.
"Even with Mijares, I told him that I was going to break him down and
smash him, and I did," Darchinyan said.
Darchinyan has become one of the most devastating punchers in the
lower-weight classes. He has ruffled some feathers along with the way
with the disdain he has shown his opponents. But Darchinyan backs up
his words with conclusive – and painful – results. "I think Vic is
misunderstood," said his promoter, Gary Shaw. "A lot of people call
him cocky. But the truth is, he is a very confident fighter."
Darchinyan is so confident, he said he eventually wants to take on a
certain Filipino superstar who has become very popular of late.
"I want to move up and fight Manny Pacquiao," Darchinyan said. "But I
will take my time. I’m not going to rush it."
Darchinyan fights at 115 pounds. Pacquiao will fight Ricky Hatton at
140 pounds on May 2.
Shaw said Darchinyan is underrated. Probably the most respected
pound-for-pound poll is put out by Yahoo.com. The panel consists of 32
veteran boxing writers from around the world. Darchinyan is not in its
top 10, sitting at No. 12.
"He should be in the pound-for-pound lists and he should be at the
top," Shaw said. "He’s knocked out almost all of his opponents, and he
deserves that."
Had Darchinyan (31-1-1, 25 KOs) not been stopped in the fifth round by
Nonito Donaire in a flyweight title fight in July 2007, he probably
would be in the top 10 of every respected pound-for-pound poll.
Darchinyan moved up to super flyweight after the loss to Donaire and
has gone 3-0-1 with three knockouts. But a 12-round draw with Filipino
Z Gorres in his second fight at super flyweight did nothing to enhance
Darchinyan’s pound-for-pound standing.
However, the impressive victory over Mijares has Darchinyan knocking
at the door. But he will have to get by Arce (51-4-1, 39 KOs), who
doesn’t figure to be holding that door wide open.
Arce, at 29, is 3 1/2 years younger than Darchinyan, who turned 33
last month. But Arce has had 56 fights compared to 33 for Darchinyan.
Many of Arce’s bouts have been of the bruising variety. He also
suffered a one-sided loss in April 2007 to Mijares, who was destroyed
by Darchinyan.
But that could make Arce that much more dangerous tonight.
Arce, an entertaining fighter from Mexico, has a lot of pride, and he
wants to show himself as well as his followers that he is still an
elite commodity.
"I know this is a fight that will bring back my credibility," said
Arce, a former light flyweight champion who also has won interim
titles in the flyweight and super flyweight divisions.
"I know a lot of people don’t think I’m at this level anymore," Arce
said, "but this will give me the chance to prove that I am. I’m going
to prove everyone wrong. I think I will knock (Darchinyan) out."
Arce, who has fought at as high as 118 pounds, believes he will be the
bigger fighter tonight. The super flyweight limit is 115 pounds, but
Arce said he could weigh as much as 130 at fight time.
One thing’s for sure: this should be a barnburner. The way these two
go about their business, it can’t miss.
"People want to see something good and anytime they see a fight I am
in, they always enjoy it," Arce said. "That’s what I do, I fight, and
people love the way I fight.
"They want to see fighters fighting, not dancing. They want to see
blood, I’ll give them blood. I love that. If it gets on me, I get more
motivated and excited. … I want the fans to see a lot of blood and a
lot of hitting. If I go down, I’m going to get up and I hope he does,
too."
MOSLEY HITS SLOPES AFTER BIG VICTORY: It seems that "Sugar" Shane
Mosley of Pomona can’t get enough of Big Bear Lake. He just spent
about two months up there training for his Jan.24 ninth-round stoppage
of Antonio Margarito, yet Tuesday he was there snowboarding.
Mosley had just finished another day on the slopes. It was 3p.m., and
the welterweight world champion who shocked the world with his
destruction of Margarito was enjoying life.
"I’m getting better at my jumps now," Mosley said of his snowboarding
prowess. "I’ve been snowboarding about seven years. I’m getting real
good, so I can go with the real good snowboarders."
His win over Margarito figures to give him a place among the real good
fighters of the past 50 years. Mosley had already won championships in
three weight classes and had done enough to warrant induction into the
International Boxing Hall of Fame.
But Mosley, 37, beat the 30-year-old Margarito from pillar to post. As
Cassius Clay said after his first win over Sonny Liston in 1964,
Mosley "shook up the world."
"Like I’ve been saying, this is my era," Mosley said. "All the Sugars
had different eras. Sugar Ray Robinson had his era, Sugar Ray Leonard
had his era.
"This is my era right now. I want to make a big impact out of it. I
want to get all I can out of this and do all I can do. I think I rate
pretty high."
Mosley was asked how the win over Margarito compares to his June 2000
split-decision victory over Oscar De La Hoya. Like the win over
Margarito, that fight with De La Hoya was at Staples Center.
Mosley said both fights carried tremendous significance, and he wasn’t
really able to separate them – although some might say the win over
Margarito was Mosley’s best victory because when he fought De La Hoya
both were in their prime.
Mosley was thought to be past his when he tore up Margarito, who is in
his prime and was coming off his biggest victory – an 11th-round
technical knockout of Miguel Cotto. However, Mosley did mention a
common denominator that was interesting – and true.
"In both fights, people said I was not strong enough, that I was
quick, but not strong enough to weather the storm of Oscar and
Margarito," Mosley said. "I was stronger in both fights."