Vic Darchinyan: The Epitome Of Sweet Science

Posted by Igor Frank on 02.12.2009

Last Saturday Vic Darchinyan delivered on his promise once again and destroyed and demolished Jorge Arce over eleven one sided rounds in front of a raucous crowd of 5,450 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.



Photos by Naoki Fukuda

For the first time in a long while the fight unfolded exactly the way I envisioned it would.

Vic was too fast and too powerful for his counterpart, who was very game and took his punishment as a man and even complained about the stoppage. Instead of complaining, Arce should have thanked the referee and the ring physician for saving his life; he was taken to a hospital an hour after the fight with severe pains in the back of his head and fluctuating blood pressure. He was brave enough to go to a press conference after the fight and express his feelings about deserving to finish the fight, but his handlers had to help him to walk out of the conference room and straight to the hospital.

What impressed me the most about Vic's performance was that he boxed beautifully: he moved to the right to set up his money punch, straight left, unleashed powerful and lightning fast combinations and kept the fight on the outside, thus preventing Arce from getting close enough to land his blows.

Many pegged Darchinyan as an unorthodox brawler because of his scorpion like stance in the ring and aggressive style, but what they failed to realize is how fast he is and subtle things he does defensively to avoid getting hit.

"Vic talks a lot of crap," a friend of mine told me the other day: "But he actually backs it up." That seems to be the case. The little big man reminds me of bare knuckle fighters of nineteenth century: he is in the ring to do damage and he is not completely satisfied unless he knocks you out. That is good news for his fans, not so much for his opponents.

In July of 2007 Armenian slugger ran into a stumbling block called Nonito Donaire who used a perfectly timed left hook to separate heavily favorite Vic from his senses. In fact it was such a great shot (in the running for a knock out of the year) that Darchinyan never saw it and still did not know what happened to him five minutes later.

The media was quick to proclaim that Darchinyan was exposed for a banger with a weak chin, but Vic dismissed this fight as fluke that could happen to any body. In reality he underestimated unknown Donaire, whose older brother he destroyed only nine month prior. On top of that Vic's wife just had a baby in Australia and he could not get a hold of her before the fight and was completely distracted and not ready mentally to get into the ring. Knock out like that could end a career of a boxer, but Vic took it in stride and turned it into a learning experience. Back at home he regrouped and called his old coach from the amateur days in Armenia, Vazgen Badalian, who has known Vic since he was eight years old. This union has brought Darchinyan to a whole new level. Why? Vic listens to his old coach, who is like a father figure, and he follows his directions. They went back to basics of sweet science: hit and don't get hit and it seems to work perfect. Vic's punches are straighter, he is throwing combinations, not one punch art a time, his footwork is great and he is using it as a defensive armor. I was ringside for his last three fights and he has looked sharper each time out. Last August he out boxed and then knocked out in the fifth very crafty technician Dimitri Kirillov. In November he dominated Christian Mijares, who at the time was included in top ten of most pound for pound lists.

His latest performance against Arce was glorious, because it required a lot from the champ: patience, boxing abilities and tremendous conditioning. Even though Arce was dominated throughout the contest, he did not loose any fans, as he fought bravely as a true Mexican warrior going through hell and still always trying to win and to land his punches. This time Vic knew he was in a fight as he had a gash on his forehead and his lip was busted up.

So what now for the unified super flyweight champion? The media has to start including Vic into a top ten of a mystical pound for pound list. What about a rematch with Nonito Donaire? Not any time soon, according to his promoter Gary Shaw, who is still bitter about Donaire betraying him? What about Fernando Montiel?

The Armenian super star dreams big. They have invited a junior featherweight champion Israel Vasquez to the post fight press conference and suggested a future fight between him and Vic. Darchinyan was uncharacteristically humble and respectful of Israel and said that he just wanted to get in the ring with him; no taunting or promises of destruction or demolition. Vic would have to move up two or three weight divisions for this fight to take place. I could already hear the nay-sayers proclaiming that Israel is too big. But if Manny Pacquiao could move up from featherweight to welterweight and run circles around Oscar and completely dominate him, why not Vic? He is an exciting champion with a skill set and self belief that will take him as far as he can imagine.

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Igor Frank is a boxing writer for the Burbank Times and a regular contributor to 411mania.com.