WHILE ARCE IS COURAGEOUS, DARCHINYAN IS DOMINANT
by Steve Kim

Maxboxing
Feb 9 2009

In the bowels of the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, where a
makeshift podium was constructed for the post-fight press conference
this past Saturday night, Vic Darchinyan wore the battle scars of his
night’s work. Ice was being applied to his oft-used left hand, there
was swelling around both his eyes and a cut near his forehead. But
that paled in comparison to the damage he doled out to the game Jorge
Arce, who never stopped trying to win, but was simply outmatched and
outgunned by Darchinyan over 11 one-sided – albeit, exciting – rounds.

"I kept my promise," said the Aussie-based Armenian, who had made
good on his word to ‘punish’ Arce. "I was waiting for big uppercuts,
he was slow. Sometimes I was waiting too long. At the end of the rounds
I started to pick it up. Every moment I was catching him with straight
and left uppercuts, I picked it up immediately." He would add later,
"I like my uppercuts. I can catch anyone with uppercuts."

They call him ‘the Raging Bull’, and with his hard-charging, rampaging
style, it is an appropriate moniker. But his awkward, herky-jerky,
southpaw style is more reminiscent of a cobra who suddenly strikes out
with venomous fury. He is anything but a classic stylist, but he has
a style that is his alone. As he crouches and peers into his opponent,
with his arms angled as if he were about to deliver a forearm shiver,
he lashes out violently with heavy punches from all directions.

>From the very onset of his bout with Arce, he would continually beat
‘Travieso’ to the punch with a series of left hands and right hooks
that stunned the brave Mexican time and time again. But Arce would have
some moments in the middle rounds as he closed the gap and began to
bang away at Darchinyan’s body. What had been an all out assault early
on from him, now became more measured attack as he ate some leather.

"He has a good punch," conceded Darchinyan, "but I know sometimes he’s
catching me with punches, the crowd was screaming, ‘Oh, yeah!!!’ but
he’s not bothering me. I didn’t hurt."

As the rounds mounted, you could see the damage accumulate on
Arce. His face was reddened early on, and by the late rounds he had
even suffered a cut behind his left ear, in addition to other facial
lacerations. But to his credit, Arce never stopped trying to win. He
would trudge forward and accept everything that came his way from
the heavy-handed Darchinyan. Time and time again he attempted to land
left hooks over the top by timing the oncoming rushes of Darchinyan
in the manner that Nonito Donaire did in the summer of 2007, but to
no avail. The speed and precision to execute such a maneuver were
non-existent. However, what he still had in abundance was his heart.

And it kept him in the fight for 11 largely entertaining rounds. It
was about as daring a performance as you’ll ever come across. Beaten
physically, but not in spirit, he would not hear the final bell as the
fight was halted with Darchinyan leading big on all three scorecards
by scores of 109-100.

"I came to fight, there was only one round left," said a disappointed
Arce, who would be hospitalized later on. "I wanted to continue
fighting. I don’t know why they stopped the fight. I’m a puncher, I
have the puncher’s chance at the end. I came to fight and I followed
him the whole fight."

But Arce was as gracious as he was gallant in defeat.

"There are no excuses, I told you before I was not going to put
any excuses and there are no excuses," he would say through his
manager, Fernando Beltran. "He’s a good fighter; I think it was a
very competitive fight. I think I hurt him a couple of times with
body punches. So I think I always have a chance to win the fight. I
always felt I had a chance to win the fight."

Darchinyan, though, was the story of the night. Since his knockout
loss to Donaire, he has put on an impressive run that has seen him
blow through the likes of Dimitri Kirilov, Cristian Mijares and now
Arce. Right now, there is no hotter fighter.

"I think so," agreed Ken Hershman, boxing czar of Showtime, which has
chronicled his rise. "I think his performance was spectacular. He’s
fun and exciting. He had a lot of fans here, and that’s the kind of
fighter you want to see."

Right now, he holds three of the four major belts at 115 pounds. And
with WBO belt-holder Fernando Montiel moving up, it may be time for
Darchinyan to go big game hunting elsewhere.

"I think he’s clearly the king at 115. We’ll have to look at options
going up and see what else is there," said Hershman. And one of those
options is either Rafael Marquez or Israel Vazquez. "I’m going to sit
with Gary Shaw and see what they want to do. I love that option and
I love the Israel Vazquez option and we’ll see which way they want
to go."

Vazquez and his manager Frank Espinoza were in attendance on Saturday
night.

"Absolutely, we’re interested in fighting him," said Espinoza. "He’s
willing to come up to 122. Israel Vazquez has already shown interest
that he’s willing to fight him."

As for Montiel, "Montiel is fighting March 28th for the vacant WBO
118-pound title," said his promoter, Bob Arum. "If he’s successful
in that and Darchinyan wants to fight him, that’s fine."

But it’s clear who Darchinyan prefers – Vazquez.

"I would love to fight him," said Darchinyan on the post-fight
dais, as Vazquez was seated next to him. And he took an unusually
respectful tone towards his potential foe. "I’m not saying I want
to fight him because I can knock him out or destroy him. Because we
already did some sparring together and I know he’s a great puncher,
a tough fighter and it’s going to be a very exciting fight. We’ll
find out who’s best in eight-ounce gloves."

(As for a rematch with Donaire, don’t even go there. Darchinyan’s
promoter, Gary Shaw, who once represented him, ain’t hearing it.)

But regardless of who he fights, Darchinyan is the biggest little
man in boxing. His lone loss, in retrospect, was the best thing to
ever happen to him.

"Don’t remember what happened in the past," said Darchinyan, who moved
his mark up to 32-1-1 with 26 stoppages. "It’s the past, it’s helped
me more, what happened with Donaire."

Shaw perhaps summed it up best, "He’s the unstoppable force right
now in boxing. He’s very difficult to hit, he’s difficult to fight
because he’s so difficult to hit and you gotta start thinking and
change the game plan because if you go in there and he’s not there,
you don’t know where he is, you don’t know what’s coming back at you."