DARCHINYAN-ARCE A DONE DEAL
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 29 Nov 2008
World super flyweight champion and Fighter of the Year candidate VIC "Raging Bull" DARCHINYAN is ready to defend his crown by kicking a little Arce, as they say Down Under.
After an initial delay on the part of Top Rank which had Darchinyan?s promoter Gary Shaw sitting around for a week, it seems the deal has been finally done. It will send Darchinyan (31-1-1, 25 KOs), from Sydney, Australia by way of his native Vanadzok, Armenia, making the first defense of his newly unified titles against WBA interim super flyweight champion Jorge Arce (51-4-1, 38 KOs), of Los Mochis, Mexico.
The eagerly anticipated battle will be promoted by Gary Shaw Productions and Top Rank on Saturday, February 7, 2009 and will be televised live on SHOWTIME Championship Boxing.
The fight will take place in the US but no venue has been decided upon as yet although initial reports indicated it was a choice between Las Vegas or California.
"I can't get enough of Mexican fighters. They bounce real good off the canvas when I hit them," boasted Darchinyan. "Let's see, I've stopped Cristian Mijares, Victor Burgos and Luis Maldonado over the past two years. Unlike Jorge Arce, those three fighters were very tough hombres.. Defeating Arce won't take much training. It won't even be a fight for me --more like pest control. I'm going to swat that Spanish Fly."
Darchinyan went on "How do you take a guy like Arce seriously? He sucks on lollipops and wears a cowboy hat from a toy store. He looks like "Woody" from the movie "Toy Story." I can picture him running around his house on a broom pretending he's riding a horse. He's a regular Schlepalong Cassidy. When I finally meet him at the press conference do I say "Hola Jorge" or "Howdy, Doody?" Arce is going to be my human pi?ata. Our fight will be like a Chihuahua against a bull...a raging bull!"
Darchinyan, the former IBF/IBO flyweight champion, unified his IBF junior bantamweight title with Mijares' WBC/WBA super flyweight belts on November 1, knocking him out at the end of the ninth-round of their November 1 rumble at The Home Depot Center. Televised live by SHOWTIME, Darchinyan became the first man in the history of the 115-pound division to unify the three major belts. Darchinyan's victory ended Mijares' (35-4-2, 13 KOs), two-year title run and nine-bout winning streak
He had previously lost his IBF/IBO flyweight titles to stylish Nonito ?The Filipino Flash? Donaire who knocked him out with a perfectly-timed hook that earned for Donaire the ?Knockout of the Year? award.
With Darchinyan fighting Arce it seems that Donaire who is moving up to super flyweight will face WBO champion Fernando Montiel, possibly in Manila in the first quarter of next year, according to Arum.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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