He would come right in with total disregard for his opponents’ offense, looking to land a deliberate looping left.  His technique resembled an And One parody of boxing, posing with his left fist high and away, as if he himself was in awe of it – a la Shaquille O’Neal when he would hit a shot with the left (then Kobe Bryant used the bit later on.)  The style produced a perfect professional record of 28-0 with 22 knockouts, though most of those wins came against intimidated opposition, whether intimidated before the first bell or after feeling his devastating power.  Vic Darchinyan was so confident he mentioned jumping up three divisions to challenge super-bantamweight champ Rafael Marquez, brash even by prizefighters’ standards. 

 

This past weekend looked to be more of the same, except Nonito Donaire would not be intimidated.  After Donaire’s older brother Glenn was stopped by a broken jaw at the hands of Darchinyan and not feeling the love of his paisas, the fanatical Filipinos, Nonito Donaire came in inspired.  He stayed in the pocket and countered Darchinyan’s lunges with timed shots, especially the left hook, which shook him up in the third round and finished him in the fifth.  Donaire stood his ground against the “Raging Bull(y),” his performance reminded me of an old Mexican Proverb, “The brave man lives until the coward wants.”  Kudos to the humble and likeable Nonito Donaire, he stayed focused in the eye of the storm.  Where other fighters folded, Donaire remained confident, never doubting himself or his abilities.  

 

The rumblings of how his nonexistent defense would be his demise did little to change his approach. Darchinyan, like Icarus, threw caution to wind and flew too close to the sun.  He had fallen in love with his power; just as so many fighters before him and many more will after, and his wings of wax melted as the boxing community watched him plummet to the canvas. 

 

What’s next for Darchinyan?

 

He stated in the post-fight interview that he would like a rematch and was not hurt, although his actions after hitting the canvas would state otherwise.  And his demeanor didn’t change after the knockout either, as his presence immediately caused tension in the post fight interview.  This nastiness along with his crushing power got him a world title, because he hasn’t shown much of anything else.  He is 31 years old which translates to ancient at flyweight and would be hard pressed to correct his many flaws.  It could also be that he was in with a fighter whose style would always give the southpaw fits.  Now we’ll see how his career will proceed without his unbeaten mystique and a fresh blueprint on how to defeat him.  This week Darchinyan announced he plans to move up a division to 115.  A bad idea when you figure that he solely relies on his power and at 115 fighters would be more resilient to his punches and hit harder as well.  

M

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