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Underdog Boxing: Donaire-Darchinyan 2? Anyone?


The events in the past week were very interesting, at least when it came to boxing’s bantamweight division. Joseph Agbeko and Abner Mares were supposed to fight each other for the IBF title. The two have defeated Yohnny Perez and Vic Darchinyan, respectively, in the semi-finals of the bantamweight tournament last December. However, days prior to the fight, Agbeko suffered a sciatic nerve attack while waiting for his ride out of the airport. It was reported that the IBF champion fell on all fours and stayed on the ground until help came. As a result, the Agbeko-Mares fight collapsed and Darchinyan-Perez (which was quite simply a battle for third) turned into the main event fight. What the world saw was a classic Vic Darchinyan performance. He dominated the fight similar to how he dominated the flyweight division (before he faced Nonito Donaire, that is). He peppered Perez with four- or five-punch combinations without a reply and he had a field day with his vaunted looping left. Perez did not know how to fight Darchinyan. It seemed like he did not even map out a plan on how he can defeat the Raging Bull from Vanadzor, Armenia. He was knocked down in the second round and he had his behind handed to him until the two clashed heads in the fifth round. Perez knew it was his way out. If the fight went on, he would have been knocked out. Perez motioned to the referee to have the cut checked by the ringside doctor. It was deemed too dangerous so the fight was halted. Darchinyan won by shutout in all the cards. This match also has repercussions in Philippine boxing as our number two guy is fighting in that division. Donaire holds the WBC and WBO titles at 118 and he needs to head back to Top Rank as soon as possible to get his career going again. It seems that a rematch with Darchinyan is a very good option for the Filipino Flash. There are more or less three viable options for Donaire and these are WBA champion Anslemo Moreno, Darchinyan, and the dark horse is Japan’s Koki Kameda. A fight against Mares is not possible as Top Rank refuses to deal with Golden Boy Promotions. A fight against Agbeko for the IBF title is also not in the horizon for Donaire as Mares should get the first shot at Agbeko after he heals from his recent injury. Among those three, Darchinyan is definitely the biggest name. However, if Donaire is still hell-bent on unifying all the belts in the bantamweight division, he should definitely go after Moreno. A fight against Donaire should be Darchinyan’s priority; a chance to right the wrong, to exorcise the ghost that has haunted him for years. Most people will think that Donaire will simply knock Darchinyan out again but you have to agree that the fight is very interesting. It is one of the biggest fights to be made in the lighter divisions. -- OMG, GMA News

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