NONITO DONAIRE and VIC DARCHINYAN CHRIS FARINA/INQUIRER
NONITO Donaire Jr., traces the steps he took to the world championship by fighting an old foe aching to settle a score today.
Trying to pick up the pieces after a shock loss last April, Donaire takes on Vic Darchinyan, the Australia-based Armenian he flattened six years ago to capture the IBF flyweight crown.
Now they clash in a 10-round featherweight non-title bout at American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas. The fight will be beamed live on ABS-CBN at 11 a.m.
Both easily made the official weight after moving up from super bantamweight. The 30-year-old Donaire tipped the scales at 125.25 lb, while Darchinyan, 37, weighed 125.75.
“I have been trying to recall how I became a world champion and the process of (doing) it,” Donaire was quoted in a transcript of tele-conference call. “The mentality and the desire, we are trying to bring all that out.”
Last year’s Fighter of the Year, Donaire (31-2, 20 KOs) is enjoying milestones in his career and personal life after the birth of his first child that forced him to take a seven-month hiatus. He also recently reconciled with his father, Nonito Sr., after years of a family spat.
He also wants to erase the stigma of a unanimous decision loss to Cuban stylist Guillermo Rigondeaux in their world super bantamweight unification bout last April in New York City. Donaire, then the WBO champ, blamed the loss to WBA titlist Rigondeaux to lack of focus and a bad shoulder.
But the four-division champ has since undergone surgery on his shoulder and declared himself fit physically and mentally for the bout.
“I’m trying to bring youth back into my boxing style,” Donaire said. He also broke tradition this time by training three straight weeks in Robert Garcia’s Oxnard gym.
Garcia told BoxingScene.com that Donaire used to shuttle back and forth from Oxnard to Undisputed Gym in Northern California, which considerably lessened their time together preparing for a fight.
In facing Darchinyan (29-5-1, 28 KOs), however, pundits believe Donaire is putting more pressure on himself because fans would be expecting a repeat, if not a better victory than the fifth-round stoppage he pulled off at Bridgeport, Cincinnati, which put him in the boxing map.
Anything less than that could be seen as a disappointment, considering that Darchinyan, dubbed as “Raging Bull” for his penchant for attacking blindly, has lost two of his last four fights.
“I know personally that Nonito is a good man,” Darchinyan was quoted by BoxingScene.com. “But his skills and power is not enough for a pound-for-pound king. I think he was exposed in his loss to Rigondeaux.”