Darchinyan hoping for third fight against Donaire if he beats Nicholas Walters

By Boxing News - 05/28/2014 - Comments

darchinyan4334By Chris Williams: Vic Darchinyan (39-6-1, 28 KO’s) would like nothing better than to upset Top Rank’s plans on matching Nonito Donaire up against WBA featherweight champion Nicholas Walters (23-0, 19 KO’s) by beating Walters in their fight this Saturday night at the Cotai Arena, Venetian Resort, Macao, Macao S.A.R., China. Darchinyan says Donaire likely won’t agree to fight him now due to the problems that he gave him in their second fight last November.

Darchinyan cracked Donaire’s cheekbone with one of his big left hand shots in the fight. But Darchinyan believes that he can force Donaire to fight him by beating Walters and then beating IBF featherweight champion Evgeny Gradovich to unify the division. At that point Donaire won’t have much choice but to fight him again, and Darchinyan says he’s stronger now because he’s put on more size since he fought Donaire.

“In the future, I’m still looking for a fight against Donaire. I’m much bigger than the last fight,” Darchinyan said to Steve Kim at Maxboxing. “You will see the difference. If I can unify the belts with him, have two titles, I think Donaire has to fight me. But I think after the last fight, Donaire’s not going to fight me because he feels my power.”

If Darchinyan beats Walters, he’s definitely going to narrow Donaire’s options. I suspect Top Rank promoter Bob Arum will quickly line Donaire up against Gradovich to challenge for his IBF featherweight title and get in front of Darchinyan. Donaire will obviously need to win his own fight this Saturday night against WBA Super World featherweight champion Simpiwe Vetyeka on the same card in Macao. A loss for Donaire here will be a big blow for his career, and I don’t think it would be worth it for Darchinyan to bother fighting Donaire in that case.

Darchinyan would be better off ignoring Donaire and going straight to a unification match against Gradovich. It would be interesting to see if Arum still goes ahead and matches Donaire up against Gradovich anyway even with Donaire coming off of a loss. That would look bad. A defeat for Donaire on Saturday would mean that he will have lost 2 out of his last 3 fights.

Walters is going to be plenty tough for Darchinyan, because this guy can punch and he’s got good hand speed and boxing skills. Walters is short on experience, but his natural advantage in hand speed and power will make him dangerous for Darchinyan.



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