Vic Darchinyan On Joseph Agbeko: "King Kong" Will Become A Chimpanzee
Stoker Mas
Bleacher Report
July 01, 2009
"I think after this fight they are going to change your name to Joseph
‘Chimpanzee’ Agbeko."
Those were the fighting words from two-division world champion Vic
"Raging Bull" Darchinyan directed at Joseph "King Kong" Agbeko when two
of the hardest-hitting bantamweight boxers in the world participated
in a media conference call to discuss their upcoming fight to be held
in Sunrise, Fla., on July 11.
Agbeko, of Accra, Ghana, and now fighting out of the Bronx, N.Y.,
has an alphabet title and has also knocked out more than 81 percent
of his opponents. Yet, Darchinyan, 32-1, 26 KOs, of Sydney, Australia,
by way of Armenia, is right behind him at 76 percent.
Suffice it to say that this fight may not last long.
Darchinyan was in fine form at the conference, doing his smack-talking
best to get under the skin and gain a psychological edge over his
opponent "This is going to be the biggest mismatch. Where would
you like me to hurt you most? In the body or in the face?" stated
Darchinyan-who took full advantage of the media exposure to hurl his
usual plethora of insults.
"I hope you are working hard and training extra hard for this fight. I
don’t want it to be another easy fight for me. I want to be your
nightmare after this fight and not before because I want you to get
a good night’s sleep," Darchinyan said.
A victory over Agbeko would award Darchinyan his fifth major world
title belt, and would also make him a three-division world champion,
charting him on a steady course in his quest for all-time boxing
greatness.
Someone once said that an overwhelming desire to succeed, a huge ego,
and a abundance of self-confidence are the three main ingredients
needed in the recipe for success in the fight game, if so, then
Darchinyan’s well on his way to the summit.
The 33-year-old boxer seems-at last-to be entering his prime boxing
years, and is attempting to climb to cross divisional stardom in the
same fashion as Filipino great Manny Pacquiao.
Darchinyan is a crowd pleaser, a tough, and highly entertaining
fighter, who possesses an exciting "go for broke" style with
crippling power, especially in his left hook, which comes out of a
crouch position.
However, he does have a loss, a one-punch left hook KO from Nonito
Donaire-in July of 2007; that single misfortune is one that many fans
and critics refuse to let him forget.
When faced with that rematch question-which is often-Darchinyan’s
response is always basically the same: "I can’t spend my career just
defending, defending, defending. I have to move up in weight and go
after more titles. I have the power to demolish anyone. I’m going to
keep moving up.
As you can see, Darchinyan intentionally avoids the question, and
if he happens to not find enough excuses, no worries, his promoter
Gary Shaw is right there to help him out by adding more: "There is
absolutely no point in us fighting Donaire, there is no money in it,
who would buy it? Somebody would need to pay the freight, and I don’t
know who that would be," said Shaw.
As a result of the loss to Donaire, when Darchinyan next squared off
with tough Mexican Cristian Mijares three fights later, many fight
fans saw him as a definite underdog.
Darchinyan sent notice to his detractors, and proved the critics dead
wrong by administering a one-sided beating to Mijares; which started
by flooring him in round one and completely dominating him for the
the next eight rounds, ultimately stopping his battered opponent in
the ninth.
Darchinyan then became a man on a 115-lb mission, and planted
himself firmly on The Rings pound for pound list by hospitalizing and
thoroughly destroying-the dangerous but fading-Jorge Arce in his very
next outing.
Now, even though King Kong is his opponents nickname-it’s Darchinyan
who is thumping his chest and being outright braggadocios.
"I’ve seen Agbeko’s fights and they don’t impress me. You will see,
nothing compares to my power. I will knock him out with my power. I
can open my jaw and let him punch it and he still won’t hurt me."
If this fight lives up to Darchinyan’s expectations, we can expect
a thrilling, yet short fight, which will include a boxer nicknamed
King Kong being gored by an Armenian Raging Bull.
I wouldn’t want to miss that.