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VIC DARCHINYAN TAKES ON A REAL-LIFE BULL WHILE DRESSED AS A MOUSE IN CRAZY GAME SHOW
Nick Walshaw
The Daily Telegraph
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/boxing/vic-darchinyan-takes-on-a-real-life-bull-while-dressed-as-a-mouse-in-crazy-game-show/story-e6freygr-1226211494841
Dec 1 2011
Australia
NO ONE wanted to take the mouse costume with its ridiculously
oversized ears.
Sure, a potential 10 points were on offer. The fact continually
repeated to those European celebrities who, split into eight countries,
were competing for national pride on The Bigggest Gameshow In The
World.
Yet still no one would touch it.
See, to accept the saggy, grey suit was to throw oneself into a
challenge that involved entering a dusty arena all screaming crowd,
giant cheese obstacles and a bull. Yep, a bull.
Not quite an animal the size of rodeo stalwarts like, say, Chainsaw
or Red Rock, but still a heaving, whirling, snorting side of beef
all bad intentions and sizeable horns.
Which is why European actors, singers, even Olympic wrestling
champions, all of them politely declined the suit.
And then the game show host got to Vic Darchinyan.
"And I was in," the Australian bantamweight laughs, kicked back now
in his Los Angeles hotel suite.
"Eventually two other athletes followed me - a Ukranian who broke
three ribs and another from Belarus. When the bull spun and landed
on him, the guy's leg snapped in half."
Only three days out from his unification blockbuster with WBA Super
Champion Anselmo Moreno, video footage of the Sydneysider dubbed
Raging Bull challenging, well, a raging bull has become something of
a hit here in Hollywood.
Fighters, managers, even Team Darchinyan's large contingent of Armenian
and Russian supporters clambering over one another to not only ask
about the game show challenge, but to see the footage that's truly
equal parts bravery, hilarity and insanity.
So how tough was it?
"Brutha, I was wrestling a bull . . . it was f...en tough," Darchinyan
laughs. "And the mouse head, it was too big. I couldn't see. That is
why the bull, he catches me."
Not just catches either, but gouges. Going so close to driving a horn
into Darchinyan's leg, it slices the saggy grey pants to reveal a
pair of red Team Armenia shorts beneath.
"They offered me leg guards but I didn't want to wear them," Darchinyan
shrugs. "It was certainly scary though. At one stage I had the bull in
a headlock on the ground. I looked him in the eye and, yes, I could
see he was upset with me."
Given the show was filmed only weeks before Darchinyan's last IBO world
title defence in Armenia, how did the bantamweight gain permission from
both his manager Elias Nassar and US promoter Gary Shaw to compete?
"I didn't," he laughs. "When I told them the show was like (if)
It's a Knockout (nf) they said no. So I say 'okay, I won't do it then'.
They're only now just seeing the video like everyone else."
From: Baghdasarian
Nick Walshaw
The Daily Telegraph
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/boxing/vic-darchinyan-takes-on-a-real-life-bull-while-dressed-as-a-mouse-in-crazy-game-show/story-e6freygr-1226211494841
Dec 1 2011
Australia
NO ONE wanted to take the mouse costume with its ridiculously
oversized ears.
Sure, a potential 10 points were on offer. The fact continually
repeated to those European celebrities who, split into eight countries,
were competing for national pride on The Bigggest Gameshow In The
World.
Yet still no one would touch it.
See, to accept the saggy, grey suit was to throw oneself into a
challenge that involved entering a dusty arena all screaming crowd,
giant cheese obstacles and a bull. Yep, a bull.
Not quite an animal the size of rodeo stalwarts like, say, Chainsaw
or Red Rock, but still a heaving, whirling, snorting side of beef
all bad intentions and sizeable horns.
Which is why European actors, singers, even Olympic wrestling
champions, all of them politely declined the suit.
And then the game show host got to Vic Darchinyan.
"And I was in," the Australian bantamweight laughs, kicked back now
in his Los Angeles hotel suite.
"Eventually two other athletes followed me - a Ukranian who broke
three ribs and another from Belarus. When the bull spun and landed
on him, the guy's leg snapped in half."
Only three days out from his unification blockbuster with WBA Super
Champion Anselmo Moreno, video footage of the Sydneysider dubbed
Raging Bull challenging, well, a raging bull has become something of
a hit here in Hollywood.
Fighters, managers, even Team Darchinyan's large contingent of Armenian
and Russian supporters clambering over one another to not only ask
about the game show challenge, but to see the footage that's truly
equal parts bravery, hilarity and insanity.
So how tough was it?
"Brutha, I was wrestling a bull . . . it was f...en tough," Darchinyan
laughs. "And the mouse head, it was too big. I couldn't see. That is
why the bull, he catches me."
Not just catches either, but gouges. Going so close to driving a horn
into Darchinyan's leg, it slices the saggy grey pants to reveal a
pair of red Team Armenia shorts beneath.
"They offered me leg guards but I didn't want to wear them," Darchinyan
shrugs. "It was certainly scary though. At one stage I had the bull in
a headlock on the ground. I looked him in the eye and, yes, I could
see he was upset with me."
Given the show was filmed only weeks before Darchinyan's last IBO world
title defence in Armenia, how did the bantamweight gain permission from
both his manager Elias Nassar and US promoter Gary Shaw to compete?
"I didn't," he laughs. "When I told them the show was like (if)
It's a Knockout (nf) they said no. So I say 'okay, I won't do it then'.
They're only now just seeing the video like everyone else."
From: Baghdasarian