AAP Newsfeed, Australia
September 18, 2009 Friday 12:46 PM AEST
Box: Darchinyan planning first major Aussie bout in five yeras
by Adrian Warren
SYDNEY Sept 18
Super flyweight world champion Vic Darchinyan is planning his first
major Australian fight for five years, but his immediate objective is
overcoming the tallest challenger of his boxing career.
Darchinyan has revealed an ambitious wish-list for 2010 after
returning to the gym this week in preparation for his December 12 WBC
and WBA super flyweight title defences against Mexican Tomas Rojas in
California.
The 33-year-old southpaw’s plans for next year include a potential
rematch with his first conqueror Nonito Donaire and world title fights
in his nation of birth Armenia and adopted country Australia.
He also intends returning to bantamweight at some stage after
dropping a points decision to that division’s IBF champion Joseph
Agbeko in his last fight in Florida back in July.
All but one of Darchinyan’s last 11 fights have been overseas, with
the one exception being a low key IBO super flyweight title fight
against Filipino Federico Catubay at Sydney’s Auburn RSL club.
He said American pay television network Showtime was excited about
the possibility of coming to Australia.
A candid Darchinyan still believes he lost that fight due to a
tactical error by trying to take out the Ghanaian with one punch
rather than using the skills which overwhelmed Mexican superstars
Christian Mijares and Jorge Arce in his two previous bouts.
The big hitting Sydney-based fighter must first overcome the
biggest height disadvantage of his world title career when he takes on
fellow southpaw Rojas.
The 29-year-old Mexican is listed at 174 centimetres, eight
centimetres taller than the Australian.
While Rojas has a modest 31-11 record, Darchinyan pointed out the
Mexican was unbeaten in his last six contests over the past two years
since being stopped by Arce, who he was leading on points.
"He (Rojas) is much taller than me and in the last two years after
Arce he has won nearly all his fights by knockout," Darchinyan told
AAP.
"He was winning every round of his fight against Arce until he got
hit with a good shot in the liver."
Darchinyan said he was looking for a rematch in America against
Donaire after his clash against Rojas.
Donaire, the only other professional apart from Agbeko to defeat
Darchinyan, holds the WBA interim super flyweight crown.
While Darchinyan’s promoter Gary Shaw has consistently ruled out a
rematch after an acrimonious split with Donaire, Darchinyan revealed
that was no longer an obstacle.
"Gary Shaw was with me in Armenia and we talked about that and I
told him how much I wanted the fight and I think he’s OK with it now
and he’s going to make the fight for me," Darchinyan said.
If Donaire can’t be tempted into a rematch, Darchinyan said he
would like to challenge Mexico’s WBO interim bantamweight champion
Fernando Montiel.