DONAIRE FACES DARCHINYAN AND SEEKS TO REVITALIZE CAREER
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 01 Sep 2013
Fighter of the Year 2012 Nonito Donaire, Jr is scheduled to face Vic Darchinyan in a 10-round rematch at the featherweight division on November 9, the venue most likely will be the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas. Donaire will be coming from a humiliating loss to Cuban Guillermo Rigondeaux where the Filipino was considered as the overwhelming favorite owing to the prestigious awards he garnered as the world's best boxer of the year.
"Donaire is coming off the worst performance that I've ever seen where he was seemingly unprepared for the fight with Rigondeaux and listless, and when something like that happens you don't know for sure if a fighter can snap out of that, so that remains to be seen," promoter Bob Arum said as reported by Dan Rafael of ESPN. "I don't know whether we'll see the Donaire we were used to seeing before the Rigondeaux fight or another version of the Donaire who fought Rigondeaux, so that makes this rematch with Darchinyan interesting."
During their first encounter, Donaire was the 7-1 underdog when he stopped Darchinyan with a single power punch in the fifth round that came out as the Knockout of the Year and the fight as the Upset of the Year on July 7, 2007, winning the IBF and IBO flyweight titles in the process.
Frank Espinoza, Darchinyan's manager, is very positive of his boxer beating the Filipino former four-division world champion. "Vic has wanted this fight for years. This is the first featherweight fight for Vic, but it's also the first fight at 126 for Donaire. I'm confident my guy is capable of beating him. It's all about timing," Espinoza told BoxingScene.
"Donaire just took a bad loss with Rigondeaux. It was his first career loss and a fighter usually needs a confidence builder after something like that, but Vic won't be a confidence builder. Vic is coming to take Donaire's head off. Donaire also had surgery since then, and we don't really know how his body will react at 126-pounds."
Darchinyan, now 37 years old, agreed to fight at 126 pounds. He originally wanted to face Donaire at a catch weight of 124 pounds. But Donaire, now 30 years old, refused to go down to that weight. So both protagonists will battle in the featherweight division for the first time in their respective boxing careers.
"Vic knows his dream of winning another world title is at stake here. A win over Donaire could open the door for a title shot in his next fight. Everything is on the line here for both fighters. In their first fight, Vic was the big favorite and now the roles are reversed, but that makes my fighter even hungrier to win," added Espinoza.
He is banking on the winning streak of his boxer. "Everyone wrote him off against Orlando Del Valle, he was brought in as an opponent and look what happened. Donaire can't afford to lose a second fight in a row and Vic can't afford to lose a big opportunity like this. The stakes are very high for both fighters."
Darchinyan won over Puerto Rican Luis Orlando del Valle by unanimous decision on September 29, 2012. He also won over Mexican Javier Gallo by 4th round TKO on May 12, 2013 to win the NABF superbantamweight championship.
"Darchinyan is an awkward guy and he can punch," said Cameron Dunkin, Donaire's manager as quoted by ESPN. "He's a dangerous guy and he really wants this fight and revenge. You never take a guy like this lightly. Anything can happen in this business."
The Armenian-Australian has been clamoring for a rematch with The Filipino Flash for six years after that setback. Nonito however came from a big loss and an operation of his shoulders after the Rigondeaux loss. But he is alright now according to Dunkin.
Donaire admitted that he didn't train properly against Rigondeaux and took the fight for granted. "He says that won't happen again. He said, 'Look, I'm 30 years old and I want to finish strong.' He knows Darchinyan will be really fired up for this fight, so Nonito will really prepare for this one," added Dunkin.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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