By Jim Dower: After beating number #12 ranked WBA and #15 ranked WBC super flyweight contender Rodrigo Guerrero (13-2-1, 9 KO’s) by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision last Saturday night at the Agua Caliente Casino, in Rancho Mirage, California, Darchinyan said that he thinks that Nonito Donaire is scared of him. Donaire, for those who don’t remember, easily defeated Darchinyan by a 5th round stoppage three years ago in July 2007. Donaire has been interested in facing Darchinyan since then, but hasn’t had much luck in getting him back in the ring again.

Darchinyan said that he plans on moving up in weight to take on “bigger and better fighters” in the near future. However, Darchinyan should cool his ambitions down some because he didn’t look all that good in beating the lowly ranked Guerrero on Saturday night. Darchinyan’s punches looked weak, seemed to have none of the big power that they used to have in the past, and he looked like an older fighter.

At 34, the 5’5” Darchinyan could finally be starting to show his age by losing the ability to punch as hard as he previously did. I also couldn’t help but notice that Darchinyan doesn’t seem to fight as hard as he used to do either. In only one round, the 12th, did Darchinyan fight with the same intensity that he previously did three years or more ago.

In the last minute of the 12th, Darchinyan fought like the fighter of old and went all out, throwing shots and letting loose with everything in his arsenal. He looked very impressive for the sixty seconds that he did this, and for the only time in the entire fight, Darchinyan was able to back Guerrero up and have him looking uncomfortable.

It was great punching. Too bad Darchinyan couldn’t fight like this in the 11 previous rounds, but I wonder now if Darchinyan can fight like that at all anymore. During the rest of the fight, Guerrero attacked constantly during the fight, keeping Darchinyan under pressure. Guerrero seemed to have no reverse gear in his body, as he literally walked through Darchinyan’s shots as if they were nothing.

Guerrero looked like the much more youthful and strong fighter compared to Darchinyan, who I thought looked old. The power from Darchinyan was totally gone, as was his once impressive work rate. I have little doubts that Darchinyan would have made mincemeat of a fighter like Guerrero had this fight taken place three years ago. However, Darchinyan’s power just wasn’t there on Saturday night, as his punches had no effect Guerrero whatsoever.

In rounds one through three, Guerrero was the busier fighter as he stalked Darchinyan around the ring throwing more shots. Darchinyan backed up constantly, picking Guerrero off with right hooks and straight lefts, but not showing any power. Luckily for Darchinyan, Guerrero was cut over the right eye in the 4th round by a hard head clash with Darchinyan.

The cut caused Guerrero to have problems seeing in the 4th, and Darchinyan subsequently had a good round. Darchinyan continued to fight well in the 5th round, because Guerrero was battling the blood leaking into his right eye more than he was Darchinyan. In the 6th round, Darchinyan was cut high on the forehead after running forward and banging heads with Guerrero like a mini Billy goat.

The 7th and 8th rounds were both very close rounds, and I scored them both for Guerrero because he was making the fight and causing Darchinyan to retreat constantly. Darchinyan looked old and weak in the 9th round, as Guerrero chased after him, battering him on the ropes with hard shots. Darchinyan was still trying to throw, but his punches looked totally weak without any of his old classic power.

Darchinyan controlled the 10th round by staying on the outside and avoiding Guerrero by moving a lot. The round had very little action, however, because of Darchinyan’s constant movement. In the 11th and 12th rounds, Guerrero finished strong, attacking Darchinyan constantly and raking him with big shots. Darchinyan ran most of the time and looked awful. I gave those rounds to Guerrero to.

All in all, I thought it was a very poor performance by Darchinyan. Given that he was matched against a bottom ranked super flyweight, Darchinyan fought horribly. I wouldn’t advise for Darchinyan to fight Donaire nor would I feel good about him moving up in weight to the bantamweight division to take on champions like Fernando Montiel, Hozumi Hasagawa, Anselmo Moreno, Neosmar Cermeno or Yonnhy Perez.

I think all those fighters would beat Darchinyan. He’d have the best chance of beating the weak punching Moreno, but I think he’d beat Darchinyan because of his height and reach. I think Darchinyan would be better off going back down to the flyweight division where his power is much more impressive than it is at super flyweight. He was a killer at flyweight, but at super flyweight and bantamweight, Darchinyan looks weak.