by Geoffrey Ciani (Interviewed by Jenna J & Geoffrey Ciani) – This week’s 121st edition of On the Ropes Boxing Radio (brought to you by CWH Promotions) featured an exclusive interview with former two division champion Vic Darchinyan (35-3-1, 27 KOs) who is scheduled to face Yonnhy Perez (20-1-1, 14 KOs) tonight at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles, California. Darchinyan spoke about his upcoming fight, reflected back on some key moments from his career, expressed his desire for a rematch with Nonito Donaire, and gave his views on matters pertaining to the current boxing landscape. Here are some excerpts from that interview:
How he feels about his upcoming matchup against Yonnhy Perez:
“It was very good preparation in Australia. I feel very, very strong. Mentally and physically is both very important for a boxer, because you to train your body you have mentally prepared and I feel very comfortable and very good.”
Regarding his attitude going into his fight with Yonnhy Perez:
“I lost my fight with Abner Mares. I tried to show all the world my skills because they are always talking about my power. They know I’m very powerful. They are never talking about my skills. I tried to show all the world how skillful I am. I feel I showed that. I believe I won the fight but the judges gave Abner Mares the decision. I lost by one point. In this fight I’m going to mentally and physically very ready and I’m going to show the world how powerful I am.”
His overall views on Yonnhy Perez as a boxer:
“He’s a busy fighter. I think he’s a good fighter. He’s a busy fighter. He’s not a power puncher. He doesn’t have one punch, but he’s busy. His work rate is very high. So I’m going to go against him and I’m going to show more power and my work rate is going to be higher than his.”
On what he think this fight means to both men since they are both coming off of a loss:
“He lost to Agbeko. Agbeko beat him. I don’t think I lost my fight. My fight was a bad judgment. I am talking about Abner Mares. He punched me twenty times with low blows. The judges have to look out and they have to stop and either disqualify him or going to take points. The kid tried to his best. He wanted to push me, he wanted to punch me, and he wanted to throw low blows. He wanted to survive! That’s what he did! If Mares didn’t punch me with low blows I would have knocked him out! That’s why in this fight I’m going to crack Yonnhy Perez and I’m going to show how powerful I am. After this fight they’re going to talk about this weight division and they will know that I am the best in this weight division.”
Regarding what he could have done differently in his fight against Abner Mares to have more success:
“If I meet him again in a rematch I will knock him out in three rounds. I promise I will knock him out and everyone will see how good I am in front of him. It was just my tactic to show everyone how skillful I am. That is why I let him do all those dirty tactics with me and punch me with low blows all over twelve rounds. Coming back he never takes points and he hits me low again. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t hold my breath and the referee was warning me! The referee was telling me if you keep putting your hands up I’m going to take and deduct a point. What does that mean? I take my hands down and let him punch me? Bad judgment? I don’t know or if the referee was his cousin or something. It’s terrible in boxing when something happens like this. Next fight I’m not going to leave any judgment for judges or any referee I’m going to my business on my own in the ring.”
His views on the fact he seemed to abandon his jab against King Kong Agbeko after utilizing his jab well in his previous three fights:
“If you remember in the Agbeko fight yes, I did not use my jab. I just wanted to land a big left. I know I made a mistake in this fight. I want to fight Agbeko again because I made a mistake.“
On what he learned about Yonnhy Perez from watching his two fights against King Kong Agbeko:
“You know what’s happening is my boxing style is different. Every time I’m looking and I’m like judging something. Every time I’m watching my opponent I’m thinking he’s not quick enough, I’m going to knock him out. Then comes the fight and I fought the wrong fight. It happened with me with Agbeko. I had seen Agbeko fight before and in my mind I know I’m going to come knock him out, and if you remember I came out and started throwing big lefts and I was missing all the time with my left. If any one of those had connected I would have knocked him out. I couldn’t connect because I shortened my punches. I’m very good when I don’t know too much about my opponent. I like to know them in the round. After a few rounds I start doing what I love to do and I’m coming on top of it. If I am watching too many tapes I’m doing more mistakes. I love when I’m judging them myself in the ring. A couple of rounds is enough for me so I can tell what they can do.”
Regarding his knockout loss against Nonito Donaire and how he believes he has changed as a fighter since then:
“Nonito Donaire was in the top ten at the time. I gave him the opportunity to fight me for a world title. I trained good but I didn’t take him too seriously and I lost the fight. What happened? Yeah he was connecting with his left hook, but after a few rounds I was coming at him with big lefts. If I connected he would have gotten knocked out. He gets me before and I jumped at him. I jumped with all my weight with a big jump which is a big mistake in boxing. After that fight I moved up and I become undisputed world champion. I had three belts. I offered him.
I said, ‘Listen Nonito, if you think you’re stronger than me, come! You just moved up to 115 too. If you think you’re stronger than me come fight me and take my three belts. You will become undisputed world champion in one go. You won’t have to fight three champions and wait for them. Come fight me and go!’
His answer was, ‘No! I beat you already! Why do I need to box you again?’
‘If you beat me and you know you’re better than me then come take my three belts in one go.’
It’s already maybe four years. I’m challenging him. I’m doing everything. I’m saying things about him and putting him down and taking cheap shots and all that stuff. I want to show all the world I made a big mistake. It was four years almost. At the time I was young at 31. Now I’m 35. Come fight me! If you think you’re better than me then come take my titles. The guy is just using my name all these four years. Every time stories come up about him they say he beat Vic Darchinyan. Okay! I made a big mistake it was all in the past. Everybody makes mistakes. You want to prove you’re better than me? Fight me again and beat me again! That’s why I don’t want to mention any more his name. He used too much my name. Every time I challenge him he mentions my name and that he beat me. Who was he before? No one! And he’s going to finish as no one. He fought me. Who’s Fernando Montiel? I’ve been challenging him for years but he won’t fight me. He never took my challenge. Donaire got important only through my name. If he wants to fight me, yes! If not, I don’t want to hear any more about his name”
His views on Nonito Donaire’s rise to pound-for-pound greatness and what he has accomplished:
“He’s done nothing! What’s he done? Before Fernando Montiel he was fighting older and smaller guys. They were guys from 106-112 or something. He was fighting all of these smaller guys. He fought Fernando Montiel? Yes! He rushed him because he felt he could knock him out and take him out as quick as he could. If Fernando Montiel fought me I would knock him out too. He’s good, he’s strong, and he’s on the pound-for-pound list. Let’s fight me and see how strong you are. I’m now 35. I’m not young. Physically I can tell you I’m very strong and I am ready for any fight.”
Regarding who he would most like to rematch: King Kong Agbeko, Nonito Donaire, or Abner Mares:
“I think Donaire is better for me. If I fight Donaire and everything comes back. My confidence and everything is there. I’m still very confident about any opponent. I just want to knock him out. Like I said years ago, Nonito when I fight you I made you and I’ll break you! That’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to destroy him and then nobody will even remember him.”
His views on being an underdog in his impressive victory against Cristian Mijares:
“I even told everyone at the press conference before the fight I was going to knock him out. I was not surprised. I just loved that people were putting me as an underdog. As an underdog they think someone is better than me. I have to prove something to my opponent too. I’m much better than him. Now that’s why all of these four years I want to prove all the world with Nonito Donaire. I was how he became popular and everyone will know how easily I would handle him after. Yeah, against Mijares I was a big time underdog and like you said I came and destroyed him. But he was smart. He was trying his best. I told him before the fight I was going to be faster than him. I was going to throw more punches than him. Everything that I said at the press conference, that’s what I did.”
Regarding his favorite boxers who he most enjoys watching fight:
“Right now I love Pacquiao. I love watching his speed against bigger guys right now at the moment. Also my favorite boxer of all time was Mike Tyson. I liked his power and speed and how he combined them together using speed and power at the same time. When I was a kid like 8 or 10 years old I wanted to be a guy like Tyson who showed my power. That’s it! He’s my best fighter in the world when I started boxing.”
His views on whether Shane Mosley is too old to compete against Manny Pacquiao:
“I wouldn’t say old. Old is coming when you can’t do it with your body, when your body doesn’t want to train. I’m not too young too. I’m 35 years old but I can go to the gum and train for four or five hours and I feel I want to train. If you feel in your mind you’re already old it’s better you just retire. I think Shane Mosley still has speed. This is going to be very difficult for Pacquiao. I think Pacquiao will come over and show that he’s more aggressive because in every fight he is showing that he wants to destroy his opponent. He’s aggressive, he’s going inside, and he does his job. I like Pacquiao’s style and aggressiveness! I can tell you that Manny Pacquiao is much better now. Pacquiao before was using only his left. He wanted to land the left. Now he’s using his right and using his jab and hooks and that’s why he can take control of his opponents. I still think it’s going to be a good fight. Shane Mosley is 39-40. People think he is old but he is going to give a very good fight to Pacquiao.”
Regarding how much longer he intends to box professionally:
“Anyone who comes in the ring and shows me he’s more powerful than me, I’m going to go out the next day and retire.”
His final prediction for his fight against Yonnhy Perez:
“My official prediction is I’m going to look for a knockout from the first round and a knockout will come! You will see how good I’m going to be in the ring. After this fight everyone will talk about my power and about me.”
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For those interested in listening to the Vic Darchinyan interview in its entirety, it begins approximately one hour and six minutes into the program.
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