If there’s a moment that will define boxing’s pound-for-pound elite Nonito Donaire’s first crack at stardom, it’ll be that left hook counter that landed straight on Vic Darchinyan in shocking fashion, resulting to a stunning knockout of the already accomplished and feared flyweight Armenian boxing star during the 5th round of their May 2007 bout. It also ended Darchinyan’s dominant streak, and marked the first ever loss of his career.
This year, the Armenian boxer might have a chance to finally take his revenge on the Filipino Flash.
Donaire, the reigning Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) Fighter of the Year, who’s currently holding the World Boxing Organization (WBO) super-bantamweight belt and listed 5th place in the Ring’s pound-for-pound rankings, is scheduled to have a match mid-April this year. However, the opponent has yet to be named.
From here on, it’s a three-man sweepstakes on who will face Donaire: Abner Mares, Guillermo Rigondeaux, and surprisingly, Vic Darchinyan became part of the discussion.
Fans have been craving for a clash between the two top acts in the super-bantamweight division (Donaire and undefeated WBC belt-holder Abner Mares) for quite some time now, but it’s pretty clear that there’s no way that the anticipated match between the two will happen soon. Nonito Donaire is under the management of Bob Arum and his Top Rank Promotions, while Abner Mares belongs to the stable of Oscar dela Hoya under Golden Boy Promotions. It’s no secret that the two boxing outfits are not quite fond of working with each other, and unless a miracle happens and they finally get to work something out, it’ll make the elusive dream match between Donaire and Mares a near-impossibility, especially because Abner Mares announced just last week that he’ll be moving up in the featherweight division after rumors that negotiations involving a match with Donaire won’t ever materialize.
Rigondeaux on the other hand is co-promoted by Top Rank which could have made negotiations for the fight easier and more likely to happen. But it is now on a complete stall, thanks to Top Rank CEO Bob Arum who told veteran reporter Ronnie Nathanielsz that Top Rank still has a pending legal issue with Miami-based co-promoter Caribe Promotions, eliminating him as a possible foe for Donaire.
Negotiations for the fight are still active, although Boxingscene.com reports that Rigondeaux won’t sign the contract for it until the legal issue between Top Rank and Caribe is settled.
“Top Rank sent a contract for the [Donaire] fight, which my advisers are reviewing, but I’ve made it clear to Top Rank that I want the legal problems between my promoter, Caribe Promotions, and Top Rank, to be resolved before the fight. I want the legal case between the two companies to be resolved,” Rigondeaux said.
The estimated deal for the proposed HBO televised fight with Donaire would reportedly have Rigondeaux earning a $750,000 straight to his purse, which is quite frankly more than a lot than most people expect that he could make for the fight.
In a financial aspect, Rigondeaux (who is not really known as a crowd drawer and doesn’t have much fan support compared to his opponent) passing up on this big money offer can be seen as a huge mistake – insane even.
This is when Vic Darchinyan’s name comes popping up on the list. If ever the Rigondeaux bout comes to a complete fall-through, Top Rank says that they are not keen on continuing the back-and-forth legal negotiations with Caribe and that they are eyeing the Armenian boxer to become Donaire’s opponent come April 13.
Arum has no qualms and is ready to talk with Gary Shaw, Darchinyan’s promoter, to finalize the deal and have his boxer lace up for the main event on April.
Darchinyan is the 37-year old veteran whom Donaire knocked out in 2007, making him an overnight sensation. Both camps of Darchinyan and Donaire have discussed a rematch on several occasions, but never really came close to a deal. Now, it seems like it’s an easier fight to make, with both camps giving it a green light in case the Donaire-Rigondeaux fight gets thrown out the window, making Darchinyan the back-up opponent for Donaire come April 13.
Darchinyan (38-5-1,27KOs) has seen his career hit certain high and lows, and was part of the Showtime’s winner-takes-all bantamweight tourney involving Abner Mares, Joseph Agbeko, Yohnny Perez and himself. During the semi-finals he lost in an allegedly dirty fight laced with tons of low blows to Mares, and would win in the consolation fight against Yohnny Perez. He then moved up in weight in 2012 and fought the still undefeated superbantamweight and highly-regarded Puerto Rican prospect Orlando del Valle via a lopsided unanimous decision.
