Exclusive Boxing Interview: Vic Darchinyan

Tonight, Saturday, July 7, 2007, Vic “Raging Bull” Darchinyan, 28-0 (22), attempts to defend his IBF and IBO World Flyweight titles against Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire Jr, 17-1 (10).

Darchinyan, Armenian born and currently fighting out of Sydney, Australia, is regarded by most as the top flyweight in the world and has been working hard to dispel the perception of limited power associated with the lower weight classes. At 112 pounds, his aggressive style and unusual strength has earned him knock outs in 9 of his last 10 contests, as well as a reputation as one of the more dangerous and exciting men in boxing.

Darchinyan’s only decision in his last 10 bouts came nine months ago against his opponent’s brother, Glenn Donaire. This has become somewhat of a sore subject between these fighters, as it was the referee’s ruling that the broken jaw suffered by Glenn Donaire was not the result of a punch that forced the technical decision and denied Darchinyan the knockout.

On one side, this fight is about a brother’s revenge and world title dreams, and on the other, it’s about Darchinyan adding the knockout to his record that he feels owed. Darchinyan has even gone so far as to say that he intends to “knock him out twice” because of the decision and the dispute since. While he gave no explanation at to how this could be done, the intention is clear and should make for an exceptional contest between these fighters.

The bout is to be televised from the Harbour Yard Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut this Saturday July 7, 2007 on Showtime’s Championship Boxing at 9pm ET/PT, tape delayed on West Coast.

Earlier this week, SaddoBoxing had an opportunity to speak with Vic Darchinyan about his upcoming title defense, his efforts at flyweight unification and plans for his boxing future.

SaddoBoxing: You have been preparing for your bout against Nonito Donaire Jr. this weekend. How has your training gone? How do you feel?

Vic Darchinyan: “I have been training in America from early June. I have had very good sparring and the training has been great. I feel very good.”

SB: You defeated Nonito’s brother, Glenn, nine month ago in Las Vegas. While they are brothers, their styles and skill do differ; how would you describe Nonito and do you expect him to be a tougher challenge for you?

VD: “He’s a big fighter, a good fighter, yes, but if he comes to fight me it’s not going to be very different from his brother. Of course, I’m very ready for this fight. I have prepared very good. I know he’s more skillful and he’s got good reach and speed, but I’m ready for that too.”

SB: Does the fact that he’s been fighting with success in the higher weights, and is coming down to 112 for this bout, give you any concern?

VD: “Well, of course I think it’s going to be hard for him. He’s been fighting at 115 and now 112, but he wanted to lose weight and fight for a world title. I don’t think it’s going to be hard for me because all my sparring, I think, are guys that are a little bigger than me. Yesterday, at the press conference when we faced each other, I saw that he was not bigger than me, maybe an inch or so taller, that’s all.”

SB: Your style is to be aggressive and always try for the knockout, it’s a big part of your popularity and success, but this fight seems to have become more personal for you. Is it simply the outcome against Nonito’s brother that has bothered you so much, or is there something more than that?

VD: “It’s just my style, like my name, Raging Bull. I got the name for my style. It’s an aggressive style because that’s how I train for the ring. He’s just a new opponent and he’s going to punch so you have to punch big. In the ring it’s up to me and I have to take control from anyone who’s in front of me. It’s just my style, you know. I know I’m going to be strong and ready and Im ‘sure I’m going to knock him out.”

SB: That leads into my next question. Would you care to make a prediction on the outcome?

VD: “He’s says he’s smart, he has speed. I’m going to show all people that I have speed and that I am smart before I knock him out. I am going to punch him and punish him. All these stupid things from Nonito all this time, the press conference and the trash talk, I’m going to knock him out.”

SB: To your credit, you stand out as a one of the few world champions who have been pushing aggressively to unify his division. Unfortunately, that seems to be a very difficult task in boxing these days. Is your attempt to unify the flyweight division completely dead?

VD: “You know, I don’t have anymore hope that it will come about because nobody wants unification. It seems impossible to have unification. I have been trying all this time and have been stuck in the flyweights, if I had known it was going to be like this I would have moved out a long time ago and tried unifying different weight divisions. Now I’m going to try and go up to super flyweight and unify super flyweight. I want to fight Cristian Mijares, Jorge Arce and others at super flyweight.” ast year it seemed as though a match with Jorge Arce was very close. Given your styles, that fight had the potential to be hugely successful. Why didn’t it happen?

VD: “I think it didn’t happen because he knew what would happen. He knew I was going to beat him. I went all the way to Mexico for his fight. I challenged him in the ring. He said that he would fight, but after a year he still had three or four fights. Then he came back and told me he would not fight. Everything was ready, but he just didn’t want to hear about that fight. Then the moment he lost to Mijares, who beat him very easy, he could just assault him very easy you know, I said I could see why Arce didn’t want to fight me and didn’t fight me.”

SB: It seems to be very difficult to get fighters who want to hold on to their belts to fight the best in their division. What can be done for the best to fight the best?

VD: “You know, there is the WBC champion, Pongsaklek, he’s already been world champion for years and defended 18 times. Heʼs just defending his title and belt, and he’s been champion a long time, but he’s facing guys he’s already beaten and sometime stuck in at the last second.”

“Itʼs tough, you know, boxing fans want to see the champions fighting each other. They want unification. I tried. I tried to unify. I told him, if you don’t not want to fight in Australia, then let’s fight in America, we can negotiate if it’s a matter of money, and there’s still nothing happening. That’s why I know it’s going to be very hard for unification in the Flyweight division, but I am thinking that if super flyweight is the same then I will come up and win another title. If there is no difference between flyweight and super flyweight, then it will still be very difficult to unify.”

SB: Assuming things go as planned this weekend, then your next step is to go to super flyweight and possibly challenge Mijares?

VD: “Yes, after this fight I want to challenge Mijares, but that’s not all I prefer. I want to go to bantamweight, then super bantamweight, step by step you know. I’m going to stay maybe one year at super flyweight, and if thereʼs nothing happening and no one wants to fight me, I’m going to move up again.”

SB: Thank you very much for your time Vic and good luck to you on Saturday.

VD: “Thank you very much.”