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Super fly King Darchinyan has no need for Donaire
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AP Photo/Chris Carlson
Unified super flyweight champion Vic Darchinyan punished Jorge Arce over 11 brutal rounds Saturday night before a stoppage and in my estimation can be crowned the king of the division. And while some hard core segments of the sport feel that there is unfinished business with flyweight champion Nonito Donaire after he knocked out Darchinyan back in July, 2007, "The Raging Bull" has surpassed Donaire in ability and more importantly in marketability.
Long before the ringside physician stopped the fight in the corner prior to the final round, Arce had learned a painful lesson which Christian Mijares and Dmitri Kirollov had learned before him, Vic is no longer the one dimensional seek and destroy fighter of prior years. Though Darchinyan's main arsenal against Arce was a hammer like left hand which landed straights, hooks, and uppercuts all night long, he now has enough wrinkles in his game to know when to hold, fight off a jab, and create defensive distance with his feet.
Donaire knocked Darchinyan's block, but is this relevant today? What have both fighters done since that particular fight? Darchinyan went up in weight and has fought five times. His record during the run is 4-0-1, the draw being a controversial one against Z Torres and two of the wins were against true world class opposition: Arce and Mijares. More impressively, very few fans or experts picked Darchinyan to defeat Mijares. Not only did then the technically gifted Mijares losr to Vic, he was knocked out in the ninth round. His destruction of Arce washes the nasty taste of the Donaire defeat out of Darchiyan's mouth, possibly for good.
As for Donaire, during the same period he has fought twice against marginal competition: Luis Maldonado and Moruti Mthalane. Shortly after the Maldonado fight, Donaire dumped promoter Gary Shaw (who also promotes Darchinyan) to join the ranks promoter Bob Arum. Seems as if Donaire has had better luck in creating controversy outside of the ring than securing a high profile fight. Arum sends Donaire off to fight Raul Martinez in the Philippines on March 22. So credit Donaire for a big knockout win, but status within boxing is not built on one fight.
If fight between Darchinyan and Donaire took place today, call me nuts, but I would have to make Darchinyan a betting favorite and for the record, Gary Shaw will not entertain a fight between his star Darchinyan and a man he considers an ingrate.
Revenge over Donaire would be nice and round out his fight resume, but Darchinyan will face-off against the opponent which will garner the biggest purse. Who would that be? My inner-magic eight ball tells me Darchinyan vs. Fernando Montiel is in our near future.
Montiel holds the World Boxing Organization's super flyweight belt and that is the only piece of the puzzle Darchinyan is missing for complete unification. In terms of match making, at his best Montiel is a boxer-puncher with above average power; Montiel vs. Darchinyan could be high drama and action filled. In terms of marketability, two of three best Mexican super flyweights have already been knocked out and Montiel would be the proud nation's last hope to derail Darchinyan.
So with all respect to Nonito, a splendid little fighter who has not been maneuvered into the bouts he deserves, King Super Fly does not need him to polish off his legacy.
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