Darchinyan to get a title shot against Yamanaka despite losing his last fight

By Boxing News - 01/17/2012 - Comments

Image: Darchinyan to get a title shot against Yamanaka despite losing his last fightBy Dan Ambrose: Former IBF flyweight and IBF/WBA/WBC super flyweight champion Vic Darchinyan (37-4-1, 27 KO’s) will be getting a title shot against WBC bantamweight champion Shinsuke Yamanaka (15-0, 11 KO’s) on April 1st in a fight that will take place in Tokyo, Japan.

Darchinyan, 36, is getting the title shot on the back of a one-sided loss to WBA Super World bantamweight champion Anselmo Moreno last December. It was one of the worse defeats of Darchinyan’s 12-year pro career but not wholly unexpected given his struggles at bantamweight.

Yamanaka, 5’7 ½”, is a tall bantamweight with a good jab and long arms. He’s not someone that will try and destroy his opponents like Darchinyan, but he does seem to have decent power. Yamanaka’ experience is limited to say the least. With the exception of his recent 11th round TKO win over Christian Esquivel for the vacant WBC strap last November, Yamanaka’s entire career has been against non-top 15 ranked fighters.

Darchinyan was arguably the best fighter at flyweight and super flyweight but he wasn’t happy at those weights and wanted to move up to chase bigger names and bigger fights. He’s not done well since moving up in 2009, losing to Joseph Agbeko, Abner Mares and now Moreno. You can make an argument that Darchinyan deserved to get wins over Mares and Agbeko. However, it’s hard to see why Darchinyan sticks it out at this weight when he can easily move back down and resume dominating the flyweight and super flyweight divisions if he wanted to. I guess the money must be really good for him to stay at bantamweight because it doesn’t seem logical.

I like Darchinyan in this fight. He should be able to pound out a decision if not a knockout. I don’t know how long Darchinyan can hold onto the title, though, because the No1 ranked contender is Mares and that’s a tough match-up for Darchinyan. Mares throws lot of punches and he’s got a size and youth advantage over Darchinyan. It seems to me that Darchinyan should move back down to super flyweight and knock off WBO champion Omar Narvaez. An even better fight would be for Darchinyan to move down to flyeight and face WBO champion Brian Viloria. Those are fights that would be huge and Darchinyan’s power would be much bigger at those weight classes.



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