The Sweet Science
Monday Mar 21, 2005
It matters little who sits in the corner, as it will be up to the two
warriors in the middle of the ring who determine who takes this one.
Boxing South Africa: Darchinyan – Sikali Set for Clash Down Under
by Deon Potgieter
South Africa and Australia have been archrivals for many years
and whenever these two countries go up against each other in any
sport there is added interest in what will transpire. Even though
IBF flyweight world champion Vic Darchinyan is of Armenian decent,
he now fights out of Australia, and when he climbs into the ring to
defend his title on March 27 against South Africa’s Mzukisi Sikali,
there’s going to be fireworks.
Sikali, the current IBO flyweight and former WBU junior fly and
super flyweight world champion, is a seasoned professional who has
come through the school of hard knocks to get where he is today. His
scarred face and gritty looks reflect that he is by no means a man
to take lightly – and it’s unlikely that the champion would do so.
Darchinyan (22 wins with 17 KOs), who is trained by hall of famer
Jeff Fenech, stopped the highly rated Irene Pacheco in 11 rounds to
claim the crown on December 16 and will be looking to celebrate his
newfound stardom in front of his “home-crowd” in Home Bush, New South
Wales Australia.
Fenech is no stranger to South Africa and has brought a number of
his charges to the southern most tip of the continent in hopes of
furthering their careers. Many of them have been against boxers trained
by Harold Volbrecht, who also trains Sikali. Fenech has not had much
success against Volbrecht’s charges, but that could all change with
the Darchinyan-Sikali encounter.
Few local pundits give Sikali a chance against the champion. Although
Sikali has always been respected, he is known to drift from the
garden path on occasion and is not always totally committed to his
fistic career. Sikali does, however, have an abundance of talent and
possesses a huge arsenal, boasting almost every shot in the book. If
he’s fired up and remains focused he has the ability to upset anyone
in the division.
To many people’s surprise, Volbrecht, who battled to inspire Corrie
Sanders in his clash with Vitali Klitschko, has had a tremendous
influence on Sikali thus far, and this partnership looks to be one
of those exceptional ones where trainer and boxer flourish in each
other’s company. Whether the 33-year-old Sikali (29 wins, 5 losses,
2 draws with 17 KOs), who is looking sharp in training, still has
the legs to claim a fourth world title remains to be seen. The fact
that he will be facing another southpaw in his quest will also add
an interesting dimension to the fight.
Nobody likes fighting southpaws, especially other southpaws. Finding
the perfect trainer to coach a southpaw to fight a southpaw, one
need look no further than Volbrecht. He is a southpaw who twice
challenged for the WBA welterweight world title and holds a national
record for defending his South African welterweight title a total of
19 times. With more opportunities at the right times in his career
there is no doubt he would have claimed a world title. Amongst his
past charges of the have been former two-time junior lightweight world
champion, Brian Mitchell, former two-time heavyweight world champion
Corrie Sanders, former welterweight world champion Jan Bergman,
and former two-time cruiserweight world champion Sebastian Rothman,
to name a few.
Fenech also has a well documented pedigree, but in the end it matters
little who sits in the corner, as it will be up to the two warriors in
the middle of the ring who determine who takes this one. Both have 17
KOs to date and methinks this one will end with one of them having 18.