DONAIRE-DARCHINYAN REMATCH IS OFF
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 05 May 2010
The eagerly awaited rematch between WBA super flyweight interim champion Nonito ?The Filipino Flash? Donaire and WBC/WBA champion Vic Darchinyan is off.
Donaire and his wife Rachael along with manager Cameron Dunkin met with Top Rank president Todd duBeof in Las Vegas Tuesday after which Donaire?s wife informed us that Top Rank claimed that Darchinyan himself ?didn?t want anything to do with Nonito.?
Asked whether the negotiations with Darchinyan?s promoter Gary Shaw fell through over money, she indicated she really didn't know. Shaw told us some weeks ago he had reached an agreement with Top Rank promoter Bob Arum and was waiting for a response from the Darchinyan camp later but later on turned around and told us that he was not happy with the deal covering the international television rights particularly since the fight was to be telecast in the Philippines. Under a two year deal with Top Rank, the giant broadcast network ABS-CBN would telecast the fight.
The Donaire?s were stuck for three hours at the Las Vegas airport while waiting for their return flight to San Francisco and even their mobile phones were down forcing her to communicate with us through Yahoo Messenger.
She revealed that the ?plan? of Top Rank was for Nonito to have a tune-up fight in July on the undercard of a Yuriorkis Gamboa fight in Las Vegas after which they would line up a title fight against newly crowned WBC champion Fernando ?Cochulito? Montiel who is also the reigning WBO champion. Montiel who won the WBC belt with a stunning 4th round, last second TKO over highly fancied Japanese Hozumi Hasegawa in Tokyo last Friday had said in a post-fight interview that after a rest he wanted to fight Donaire and Darchinyan which provides a window of opportunity for Donaire who has always wanted to fight the best, including Montiel.
Rachael Donaire said Nonito ?didn?t feel well and he was just sick to the stomach to hear that the Darchinyan fight fell through.? She said that based on what they were told by Top Rank ?now Darchinyan really will look like a coward.?
Donaire who is ranked No. 4 in the latest Ring Magazine pound-for-pound rankings ?wants a clear belt at 115 pounds? with Rachael Donaire indicating that is what she told duBeof. The Donaires admitted they were upset when duBeof ?kept talking fights with this or that person? and told him ?he doesn?t apparently know Nonito.?
She pointed out that ?the belts are important to Nonito. It's his dream.? In fact before his last fight against Manuel Vargas at the Las Vegas Hilton on February 13, Donaire told us that he has a blueprint for the future which is to follow the path carved out by pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao and to win titles all the way up to junior lightweight where the late Gabriel ?Flash? Elorde reigned as world champion for almost seven-and-a-half years.
She lamented the fact that Darchinyan had the belts and that they need to find an opponent who HBO will buy to have fans watch, pointing out that WBO champion Jorge Arce ?won?t fight? Donaire leaving only IBF super flyweight champion Simphiwe Nongqayi who won the title beating Arce handily in Mexico last September.
Our efforts to contact promoter Gary Shaw who is always most accommodating to find out what was going on unfortunately failed although we were able to leave a call back number.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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