By Chris Williams: Nonito Donaire (31-2, 20 KO’s) will be facing 37-year-old Vic Darchinyan (39-5-1, 28 KO’s) in November rather than facing the guy that just badly schooled him in Guillermo Rigondeaux.
Donaire had said that he wanted to avenge his 12 round unanimous decision loss to Rigondeaux next, but Donaire’s promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank has other ideas for the Filipino instead of putting him back in with the highly skilled and much faster Cuban fighter.
Arum said to the Manila Standard, “It’s likely to happen sometime in November.”
Arum sure did wait a long time before he chose to make this rematch between Donaire and Darchinyan. It’s been 6 years since Donaire stopped Darchinyan in the 5th round in July 2006, and it’s not really an interesting fight any longer considering that Darchinyan has been beaten 4 times since Donaire last beat him.
That’s a lot of defeats for a world class fighter and it takes away a lot of interest in this fight, at least as far as hardcore boxing fans go.
All the defeats that Darchinyan, #1 WBO, #2 WBC, #6 IBF, #8 WBA, has suffered in the past 6 years hasn’t hurt his rankings any, as he remains ranked high at super bantamweight despite the losses. That’s more of a product of the 122 lb. division being a weak one rather than a sign of Darchinyan having a lot left.
He’s slipped a lot as a fighter since his first fight against Darchinyan, and it’s not likely he’ll be able to make it a competitive fight with Donaire unless he can find a way to keep from getting hit.
Donaire was planning on moving up to featherweight because he had struggled to make the 122 lb. weight limit against Rigondeaux, but Arum wants Donaire to stay at super bantamweight for this fight against Darchinyan. I’m betting Arum will ask Donaire to stay at 122 for another fight after Darchinyan to face WBC 122 lb. champion Victor Terrazas.
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