Vic Vic Vic! Darchinyan Day around the corner

20.07.05 – 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.