By Jake Donovan

The super flyweight division continues to keep pouring out the hits, with this weekend’s action certainly no exception. Two separate telecasts feature three fights that figure to heavily factor into the division’s future landscape as 2008 slowly begins to make way for 2009.

Chief among all of the battles between little big men this weekend is of course Showtime’s main event featuring a three-belt alphabet unification match between one of the sport’s best fighters in Cristian Mijares, and one of its purest punchers in Vic Darchinyan (Saturday, Carson, CA, 9PM ET/PT).

Competing in separate bouts on a separate telecast are two fighters whose careers head in opposite directions. Box office attraction Jorge Arce continues to pick up the pieces following his humiliating loss to Mijares some 18 months ago.

This weekend, he appears on the undercard of a Top Rank PPV (Saturday, Las Vegas, 9PM ET/6PM PT), when he takes on former titlist Isidro Garcia. Appearing on the same show is flyweight titlist Nonito Donaire, who ends a forced 11-month hiatus with his first fight under the Top Rank banner as he defends his strap against South African contender Moruti Mthalane.

Further proof in the depth at the lower weight classes is the positioning of the four major players this weekend. Once upon a time, the most desired matchup – one that would prove to be a hit at the box office as well as determine lower-weight supremacy – was the head-on collision the rivalry between Arce and Darchinyan appeared to be heading, or so fans hoped.

Such a match-up is still a possibility, and one that fans will gladly embrace whenever it takes place. Only, neither fighter resides at the top of a particular division, nor are they favored to carry a significant winning streak if such a fight were to ever become a reality. Not after the other two fighters mentioned in this equation were through with them.

It was less than two years ago when Arce and Darchinyan were wreaking havoc on flyweights and junior bantamweights, and when a head-on collision ranked high among many a boxing fan’s wish list.

Darchinyan was knocking out challengers left and right over the course of his flyweight title reign that coincided with his stateside debut, in December 2004. His 11th round knockout of Irene Pacheco was supposed to come two months earlier on ESPN2, only for inclement weather to ruin those plans, thus pushing back the fight to the end of the year, and off-TV.

He wouldn’t receive a formal introduction to the living rooms of American boxing fans until June 2006, albeit in an opportunity that fell in his lap. The evening’s originally scheduled main event was Jose Luis Castillo’s planned rubber match with Diego Corrales, only for Weight-gate to pull the plug on the fight, thus further ramping up the bitter feud between Arum and Shaw.

The latter would stand in the way of Darchinyan maximizing his earning potential, but would soon become a regular on Showtime airwaves. His first appearance on the network actually came three months prior, when he stopped Diasdado Gabi in eight one sided rounds. But it was his knockout of previously unbeaten Luis Maldonando that truly signaled his arrival, with three straight Showtime Championship Boxing appearances to follow.

On the other side of the dial, Arce was rapidly becoming a favorite among the HBO brass, largely due to his thrilling wins on the undercards of several high profile pay-per-view shows.

His last loss came in 1999, when he was way up on the cards before getting iced in the 11th round of what would be the final fight in the long and storied career of Olympic gold medalist and Hall-of-Famer Michael Carbajal.  It would be another eight years before he’d again seen the loss column, racking up 26 wins against opposition spanning three weight classes.

As 2006 became 2007, talks of an Arce-Darchinyan collision never advanced beyond that – just talks. In the span of three months, any dream of such a fight happening were shattered altogether, thanks to the arrival of two fighters who’d spent much of their respective careers flying way under the radar.

Once upon a time, Mijares was 11-3-1 (3KO) and figured to never rate any higher than just another Mexican journeyman. That was before 2003 he joined the same traveling circus that helped build the career of current middleweight contender Marco Antonio Rubio.

No longer would he take fights just for the sake of taking fights. His career would have purpose, and the skinny southpaw from Durango, Mexico was determined to realize a dream or two before calling it a career.

Fast forward six years later. The only thing that hasn’t changed is the number of losses on Mijares’ record. Still stuck on three, as he’s embarked on an impressive 26-fight win streak, picking up two major titles along the way.

The first came two years ago, and only after lineal junior bantamweight champion Masamori Tokuyama decided to vacate his crown, and subsequently call it a career after failing to secure a title shot at bantamweight.

Mijares just happened to be ranked high among the sanctioning body that ordered a vacant  - as it was referred to at the time, “interim” – title fight between he and former champ Katsushige Kawashima, a bout in which the Mexican traveled to Japan and escaped with a well-deserved split decision.

A rematch four months later produced far greater results, with Mijares, in control for much of the bout, stopping his Japanese rival in ten rounds. Despite enjoying a lead on the scorecards after nine rounds, the threat of robbery still loomed.

The first sign came early in the tenth, when Mijares landed two clean headshots to send Kawashima to the canvas. What appeared to be a clean knockdown was instead ruled a slip. Mijares made it a moot point moments later, trapping Kawashima on the ropes and unloading, forcing the referee to stop the fight.

It was perhaps the biggest win of his career to that point, but would hardly rate three months later. That’s when he was summoned to meet Jorge Arce in San Antonio on a Top Rank pay-per-view headlined by Manny Pacquaio. The fight was Mijares’ first in the United States, and he made one hell of a debut, putting on a boxing clinic en route to a 12-round whitewash.

If Darchinyan secretly gloated over the humiliation Arce suffered, the glee would be very short-lived. He would only remain undefeated and a flyweight titlist for another three months before he was dealt his own brand of humiliation.

On the delivering end was Nonito Donaire, a Filipino boxer-puncher who gained respect among US boxing fans thanks to impressive showings on ESPN2 and Shobox. Still, very few could predict what would transpire in their July 2007 Showtime battle.

The oddsmakers surely didn’t see it coming, tabbing Donaire a massive 8-1 underdog going in. They were shown from the outset just how very wrong they would be.

Donaire was in control for much of the brief encounter before sending shock waves through the industry with a perfectly timed left hook that sent Darchinyan crashing to the canvas. The soon-to-be ex-champion valiantly tried to beat the count, but was unable to steady himself as he stumbled across the ring before being rescued without another punch being thrown.

Three months, two different methods of dominance, one dream fight shot to sunshine. Not that the spoilers exactly reaped instant benefits; neither Mijares nor Donaire were given much opportunity to capitalize on their success before 2007 came to a close.

Donaire served on the opening leg of a Showtime tripleheader last December, matching old Darchinyan foe Luis Maldonando, even matching his old rival’s performance with a one-sided eight-round knockout. It would be his last fight between then and now, as promotional issues with Gary Shaw led to his career being put on ice before the two split earlier this year.

Mijares found a promotional home, hooking up with Lou DiBella. His first fight under new ownership came earlier this year, in a thriller with Jose Navarro.

The bout served as a primer for the evening’s main event, a PPV-televised rematch between Kelly Pavlik and Jermain Taylor. A star was born as Mijares survived the bloodbath in what seemed to be a certain win, only for the Mexican to be forced to settle for an absurd split decision, including one card that had Navarro pitching a shutout. More sensible scores of 117-111 and 115-113 came down for Mijares, who earned the first of three victories in 2008.

But it was his split decision win over Alexander Munoz in their May title unification match that put Mijares in the position he’s presently in – one win away from owning three major titles at 115 lb, and garnering serious consideration as 2008’s Fighter of the Year.

If there’s a single regret, it’s that the moment won’t come against Nonito Donaire, which was how DiBella hoped Mijares would end his 2008 campaign.  An offer was allegedly made to the Filipino, whose team, according to DiBella during a conference call last week, declined to accept, giving little to no indication that they were interested in such a matchup at this time.

In fairness to Donaire – and this is without hearing his team’s side of the story, any fighter would be foolish to rush into a showdown with Mijares following an 11-month layoff and a switch in promoters. Where Donaire should be is exactly where he is – in Las Vegas, defending his belt against mandatory challenger Moruti Mthalane. 

A win over the South African won’t rate as high as, say moving up to junior bantamweight and knocking off one of the sport’s very best fighters. But then, moving up to face two-belt titlist Mijares in November 2008 wouldn’t rate as high as, say moving up to face three-belt titlist and potential Fighter of the Year Mijares sometime in ’09.

In order for that to happen, Mijares has to beat the man who helped make Donaire famous.

Two wins and a highly controversial draw have followed the lone loss of Vic Darchinyan’s career last July. The most recent win was one of the year’s most surprising performances. Darchinyan was generally favored to successfully get past 115 lb. titlist Dimitri Kirilov this past August, though the manner in which he achieved such victory was wide open to debate.

Not very popular among the choices offered was the result that was actually produced – Darchinyan delivering perhaps the most dominant performance of his career in knocking out the Russian inside of five rounds.

The knockout win was sweet justice for what had transpired six months earlier, when Darchinyan recovered from a second round knockdown to score five of his own, though only two of them official, in settling for a controversial draw against Z Gorres in the Philippines. The bout featured everything from knockdowns to botched calls to flying debris, right down to suspect scoring, as Darchinyan appeared to be the winner in every way but the final verdict.

The transplanted Armenian is a considerable underdog to keep his title and pick up two more this weekend, though it stands to reason that a showdown with either Donaire or Arce is in the future for this weekend’s winner in Carson, California.

How did Arce work his way back into the picture, you ask? When you’re as big of a draw as he is, you never really leave; no matter how much humiliation you’ve previously suffered.

Arce’s looked considerably short of stellar in the post-Mijares portion of his career. A 1st round knockout of faded former lineal flyweight champion Megdeon Singsurat was the rare easy night’s work among Arce’s past four fights. But the bout which gave his fans one last hope of perhaps making something big happen was his knockout of Rafael Concepcion just 6 ½ weeks ago in Mexico.

The bout was a war before Arce eventually took over, proving to be way too strong for the Panamanian, who reached a point where he’d clinch nearly every time he was tagged flush. Concepcion was eventually put out of his misery, though Arce was robbed of a body shot knockout when referee Steve Smoger decided the rout should last a little longer than necessary.

The onslaught was finally stopped in the corner after nine rounds, leaving Arce as an interim junior bantamweight titlist, which in relevant terms means he is in position to challenge the Mijares-Darchinyan winner if he so chooses to go that route.

Neither fighter gave much indication that it’s high on their to-do list in 2009. Mijares feels he provided a conclusive ending in their 2007 meet, and Darchinyan has revenge of his own on the brain – should he get past Mijares, no doubt he’d love the opportunity to reverse last year’s loss to Donaire sometime in the next calendar year.

Top Rank might have other plans for Donaire and Arce – namely an in-house head-on collision sometime in 2009.

One name left out in all of this is another junior bantamweight also fighting this weekend. Fernando Montiel, who holds the last remaining significant 115 lb. title, appears way off the radar as he defends his alphabet belt against Juan Rosas in Aguascalientes, Mexico on Sunday.

Montiel’s led an inconsistent career, but has hovered around the top of the 115 lb. division for the better part of this decade. A disappointing 2003 loss to Mark Johnson on HBO hurt his Q rating, as did a failed bantamweight title bid against Jhonny Gonzalez in a surprisingly disinteresting chess match two years ago.

But you’re only as good or bad as your last fight in this business; Montiel’s been lights out in his two appearances this year, sending Martin Castillo into retirement with a fourth round knockout on the same night Mijares outlasted Navarro, then joining Darchinyan and Donaire as the latest to knock out Luis Maldonando in a title fight, stopping his countryman in three rounds in his last fight to date this past May.

Barring a draw or some premature ending that fails to produce a winner in the Mijares-Darchinyan Showtime headliner, there stands a strong chance that four of the aforementioned five major players at and around 115 lb. will emerge victorious this weekend. Talks will begin of mixing and matching soon after the results are in.

Only unlike the discussion that eventually came to a crashing halt in 2007, the scope won’t be limited to one match that never stood much chance of happening anyway. The pieces are now in place for dream matches aplenty to surface and become a reality in 2009 and beyond, no matter how you match them up.

Jake Donovan is a voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Comments/questions can be submitted to JakeNDaBox@gmail.com.