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Flyweight Titlist Darchinyan To Fight Donaire On Oct. 7

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  • Flyweight Titlist Darchinyan To Fight Donaire On Oct. 7

    FLYWEIGHT TITLIST DARCHINYAN TO FIGHT DONAIRE ON OCT. 7
    By Dan Rafael

    ESPN
    Aug. 21, 2006

    Flyweight titlist Vic Darchinyan, the power puncher extraordinaire,
    will make his fifth defense against Glenn Donaire on Oct. 7, promoter
    Gary Shaw told ESPN.com Monday night.

    Darchinyan

    The fight will be the co-featured bout on the Showtime-televised card
    headlined by the previously announced rubber match between lightweight
    world champion Diego "Chico" Corrales (40-3, 33 KOs) and Joel Casamayor
    (33-3-1, 20 KOs).

    A formal news conference announcing the card is scheduled for Wednesday
    at host site Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

    Darchinyan (26-0, 21 KOs), a 30-year-old Armenian based in Australia,
    had expected to face Argentina's Omar Narvaez in a title unification
    match.

    After agreeing to the fight, Narvaez backed out, angering Shaw,
    who recently went to Argentina to make the deal. The title fight
    was contingent upon Narvaez defeating mandatory challenger Rexon
    Flores on Aug. 5. However, after Narvaez won a lopsided decision,
    Shaw said he received an e-mail from a Narvaez representative saying
    that there had been a change of plans and that Narvaez would instead
    stay in Argentina for a different fight in the fall.

    The 26-year-old Donaire (16-2-1, 9 KOs) is 3-0-1 since suffering a
    surprising first-round TKO loss to Z Gorres on the Erik Morales-Manny
    Pacquiao I undercard on March 19, 2005, in Las Vegas.

    "Glenn took the Gorres fight on short notice, and I don't think that
    it is indicative of who Glenn is," Shaw said. "He is a very skilled
    fighter, but I recognize that Vic Darchinyan throws bricks and there
    is not anyone he can't take out with one punch. Glenn will have
    to fight smart and box, and shoot his shots down the middle to be
    competitive. If he does that, Vic will be in for a very tough fight."

    Shaw said that while Darchinyan is disappointed about not being able
    to lure another champion into the ring, he is excited about facing
    Donaire, a native of the Philippines living in California.

    "When I called him [in Australia] to talk to him about the fight,
    all he asked me was, 'Will this guy give me competition, because all
    I want are competitive fights,'" Shaw said. "Vic wants to fight the
    other champions, but we can't make them fight Vic. We will still
    try to fight Narvaez and the other champions, [Lorenzo] Parra and
    the champion from Thailand [Pongsaklek Wonjongkam]. In the meantime,
    Donaire and Vic will make a good fight."

    Darchinyan and Donaire fought on the same card March 3 in Chumash,
    Calif. Darchinyan stopped Diosdado Gabi in the eighth round to retain
    his title. Donaire was held to a majority draw in a six-round fight
    against Jose Albuquerque.

    Donaire watched Darchinyan fight in the main event and told his
    manager, Cameron Dunkin, that he wanted to fight Darchinyan.

    "He had asked for this fight," Dunkin said. "Darchinyan is a tough,
    hard-punching guy. We have a lot of respect for him. But my guy
    can really fight and he has been waiting for this opportunity for a
    long time, and he's not going to blow it. He's really excited about
    the fight."

    Dan Rafael is the boxing writer for ESPN.com.
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