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© Tom Casino / Showtime Boxing
Bad Blood? Yes! Brawling Styles? Yes! An early candidate for Fight of the Year? You bet!
There is the very strong possibility of all three of the above happening when Australian based Armenian Vic Darchinyan defends three versions of his super flyweight title against Mexican Jorge Arce at the Anaheim Pond in Los Angeles tonight.
33 year old Darchinyan seems to be like a fine wine; he gets better with age. With 25 KO’s in 31 wins, since moving up weight, the champion has improved greatly as a fighter.
After holding the IBF Flyweight title between 2004 and 2007, Darchinyan took the option of moving up a division after losing the title on a fifth round stoppage at the hands of Nonito Donaire.
The move up in weight has certainly suited “The Raging Bull”. After drawing his first bout at super flyweight, Darchinyan won the IBF Super Fly title with a convincing fifth round TKO over Dmitri Kirillov in August last year.
Darchinyan has since picked up a further two versions of the title, winning virtually every round against Cristian Mijares before ending matters in the ninth.
In 29 year old Arce, Darchinyan meets a man who himself has tasted championship gold. A former light flyweight titlist who has also made the move up in weight, the Mexican is a 56 fight veteran who has fought as high as bantamweight in his career.
Splitting his career between bouts in Mexico and the States, the challenger has built up a solid reputation on both sides of the border.
So, at long last we have a lower weight fight taking centre stage and what a fight it should be!
There’s no secret of the bad blood between the two camps. But bad blood aside, this still has all the makings of a classic scrap, one you could hold in a telephone booth. The one at the end of 2009, we could be rating this as Fight of the Year.
Arce, for all his toughness, does have a tendency to cut easy while Darchinyan is the man on a roll at the moment. Arce seems also to be slightly past his prime in a weight division not best suited to him in comparison with the champion, whose last two performances show a boxer at his peak.
In analysing this one, I feel Darchinyan can win the fight in a number of ways and he could even box to a victory if necessary. The odds favour Darchinyan and in this fight, with the bad feeling between the two fighters, I think he will want to make a statement.
Arce, because of his toughness, will make it exciting but the straight precise punches of the Armenian will be the deciding factor.
Vic in 7!
