Darchinyan vs. Donaire 2 possible for later this year

By Boxing News - 06/05/2013 - Comments

donaire012By Chris Williams: A long awaited rematch between 38-year-old Vic Darchinyan (39-5-1, 28 KO’s) and the recently beaten Nonito Donaire (31-2, 20 KO’s) is possible for later on this year, according to the Manila Standard.

Their mutual promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank wants to finally put the Darchinyan vs. Donaire rematch together. Never mind the fact that the fight is six years too late at this point; Arum still wants to make the fight. I can’t say it’s the fight that it would have been years ago because I can’t.

Darchinyan has lost two out of his last four fights and he was shaken up badly in his last fight against 2nd tier fighter Javier Gallo in a 4th round TKO win last May. Darchinyan got the win but he was staggered twice by a fighter that didn’t belong in the same ring with him.

In a way this is kind of a fitting fight for the two of them. Donaire was just BADLY schooled by WBA super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux last April in a 12 round unanimous decision loss and there’s questions about where Donaire can go from here.

If he moves up to featherweight, he’ll likely get taken apart by the bigger fighters. If he stays at 122, Donaire will struggle with the weight and be considered the #2 guy in the division behind Rigondeaux. It doesn’t look like Arum wants to put Donaire back in with Rigondeaux, and Donaire hasn’t been vocal about wanting to avenge his loss to the Cuban fighter.

Donaire destroyed Darchinyan in a 5th round TKO six years ago. At that time it was a surprise upset, but later on it became apparent that Darchinyan was made to order for Donaire due to the way he telegraphs his punches.

I think Donaire will stop Darchinyan just as easy if this fight gets made. Darchinyan is older now and clearly not the fighter he was before. The same with Donaire, but he’s still got more enough left to take care of someone like Darchinyan.

You’d like to think that Arum would have better options for Donaire because there would no title on the line and it seems like he’d be better off waiting for one of the world champions to be freed up so that he can fight for a strap instead of fighting a guy that has lost two out of his last four fights like Darchinyan.



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