EastsideBoxing.com
July 21 2005
Vic Vic Vic! Darchinyan Day around the corner
21.07.05 – By Eddy Manning: There is alot to like about Vic
Darchinyan. Young, eager and exciting, the soft spoken Armenian
turned Australian has the boxing world at his feet. Darchinyan is in
the final stages of preperation for next Wednesday nights bout
against Columbian Jair Jimenez. The bout will be a defense of
Darchinyans IBF and recently gained IBO Flyweight titles. The 29 year
old champion is loving every minute of his world title reign and has
the perfect outlook on his career. ”I want all the belts”
Darchinyan has said in the past. A goal which is within close grasp
of Darchinyan.
Drachinyan came over and fought for Armenia in the Sydney 2000
Olympics and upon a meeting with Jeff Fenech he was offered a spot in
the stable of one of Australias greatest ever fighters and renowned
trainers. Darchinyan made his pro debut only two months after the
Olympics and went on to win his next 21 bouts in front of Australian
audiences, gaining more admiration and support each fight. As
Darchinyan charged towards a world title shot he became a very
popular fighter due to his explosive, almost super human flyweight
power and his exciting ‘windmill’ like style.
The ”Vic, Vic, Vic” chants echoed as Darchinyan earned the biggest
fight of his career against the then undefeated and highly regarded
IBF Champion Irene Pacheco. The fight wasn’t without its troubles
itself, Hurricane Frances hit Florida prior to the fight and caused
the fight to be postponed with Darchinyan already in America.
When both fighters finally entered the ring in December of last year
it was the hard hitting Australian who would snatch the title from
Pacheco via an 11th round TKO. After a drama filled fight which saw
momentum turn after a 10 minute delay because of ”fireworks”
outside the arena, Darchinyan would put Pacheco down in round 10
before forcing the referee to halt the contest after another big
knockdown in the 11th. One more defense to Darchinyan over South
African champion Mzukisi Sikali didn’t see things go entirely
Darchinyans way but in the end his punching power forced Sikali to
pull a ”no mas” of some sort.
The Darchinyan camp, along with most others dont know too much about
Jimenez except he does have knockout power and a reputation as a
slugger. Something which may suit Darchinyan very well. A very
competitive and deep Flyweight division will only motivate Darchinyan
more on Wednesday night as he seeks to equal one of his biggest
mentors in Kostya Tszyu, another internationally born fighter who has
fought his entire career as an Australian, by Unifying the Flyweight
division, much like Tszyu did at Junior Welterweight. With fighters
like Pongsaklek Wonjongkam and Lorenzo Parra holding the other belts
the road will keep winding to a tougher climax for Darchinyan.
Without a doubt the A grade training Darchinyan gets at Jeff Fenechs
Sydney gym has helped his career to where it is today, the former
world champion Fenech has formed a close knit bond with Darchinyan
and Darchinyan himself seems to have taken a piece of Fenechs old
fight style. Darchinyan is also getting world class sparring from top
flyweight contender and stable mate Hussain Hussain, who was in a
fight of the year contender against Mexican legend Jorge Arce is
March.
The time is right for Darchinyan to continue his assault on the
flyweight division and climb the ladder of boxing success. As his
hero Kostya Tszyu waves goodbye to the sport he has served so well,
will it be Vic Darchinyan who becomes Australias next P4P champion?
Keep chanting ‘Vic, Vic, Vic’ and watch Vic Darchinyan write his own
chapter in Australian boxing history.