By Jake Donovan
Clearly, July 11 cannot come quick enough for Joseph King Kong Agbeko and Vic Darchinyan.
From the moment their bantamweight fight was signed, the two lower weight bangers have said plenty to one another, through the press, on the phone, and up close and personal.
It’s a rivalry for sure, but certainly not a friendly one, a point on which the media was once again reminded during the final pre-fight press conference Thursday afternoon at the Bank Atlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida.
The venue plays host to this weekend’s show, which airs on Showtime (Saturday, 9P ET/PT).
Rare is the occasion when Darchinyan (32-1-1, 26KO) has a kind word for any of his opponents. In a career that is now rapidly approaching its third weight class, the brash transplanted Armenian, now fighting out of Sydney, Australia, has done plenty of talking prior to just about every fight. On all but one occasion, he’s fully backed up his words in the ring.
Agbeko (26-1, 22KO) has hardly been spared in the weeks leading up to their bantamweight title showdown. The tough-as-nails Ghanaian, who now calls the Bronx his home, has reigned as a bantamweight titlist for nearly two years, yet enters the fight as a considerable underdog in the eyes of the media and of course according to the words of Darchinyan.
“This is going to be the biggest mismatch,” believes Darchinyan, currently the world’s top-rated super flyweight who moves up in weight in hopes of a major title in his third weight class, with most of the run coming on SHOWTIME. “I think after this fight they are going to change my opponent’s name to Joseph ‘Chimpanzee’ Agbeko.”
What may initially read as a politically incorrect remark is really a play on the King Kong part of Agbeko’s full birth name. Middle name or not, it hasn’t stopped Darchinyan or his publicity team from using it as material for his latest verbal assault.
“No matter how many times they remake “King Kong” the ending is always the same…it’s beauty that kills beast,” reminds Darchinyan. “Who’s more beautiful in the ring than I am?”
Most boxing experts would agree that it’s hard to come up with more than a small list of names from a “what have you done for me lately” perspective. Even more remarkable than Darchinyan’s recent run – knockout wins over (in reverse order) Jorge Arce, Cristian Mijares and Dimitri Kilirov – is the fact that it comes on the heels of his lone loss, a humiliating fifth-round knockout at the hands of Nonito Donaire.
Despite the lofty credentials and promises of violence, Agbeko still isn’t impressed.
“Vic is always talking about his power and about how he’s this and that but I’ve watched a couple of his fights and I never saw that power,” insists Agbeko, who makes just the second defense of the alphabet bantamweight strap he violently acquired 22 months ago against Luis Perez in his only other SHOWTIME-televised appearance to date. “I’m going to let him do whatever he wants to do in this fight because I can do whatever he does better than him.”
Until Saturday night comes, actions speak louder than words. Agbeko certainly possesses the capabilities, as exhibited in his one-sided rout of Perez and his razor-thin loss to Wladimir Sidirenko in his first try at a major title four years ago. What he lacks for the moment, is depth, which is why he was oh so eager to accept Darchinyan’s challenge.
His hope after this weekend is for the boxing public to place him on a very short list of the world’s best bantamweights. But until he can allow his actions to speak louder than words, Agbeko is doing his best to allow his words to project louder than that of his trash-talking foe.
“I know Vic Darchinyan picked to fight me because he thinks he can have his way with me. I just want him to know that this is the biggest mistake he has ever made in his career. [H]e’s going to get the worst beating of his career.”
Even if it happens, there isn’t much in the way of Vic-suffered beatings to which you can compare. It’s only happened once before, two years ago almost to the day.
Perhaps the date is a hint of symbolism, though for the moment Darchinyan has certainly proven himself to be a man wise enough to not allow history to repeat itself. Make what you want of his brash attitude; what can’t be brushed aside is what he’s accomplished over the course of his 8-plus year career, more than half of which has been spent as the best fighter at flyweight and super flyweight.
The scary part is that Darchinyan seems to get better with time.
Most of the sport’s lower weight fighters enjoy their best wins well before the age of 30. Having recently turned 33, Darchinyan has shown no signs of slowing down, having barely lost a round in three fights since his controversial draw to Z Gorres in February 2008.
To say he’s made it look easy in his past three fights would be a major understatement, especially when you consider that it’s come against three of the best 115 lb. fighters in the world. But he only makes it look that way by training for the fight of his life.
It’s why he continues to challenge the best and adding pounds to his frame. While a man of many words, complacency is one you will never find flying from his mouth, and not for a lack of being articulate.
“I can’t spend my career just defending, defending, defending,” is Darchinyan’s response to why he no longer desires to serve as the super flyweight king. “I have to move up in weight and go after more titles. I have the power to demolish anyone. I’m going to keep moving up.”
All he asks – or actually demands – at this point is that his opponent comes equally prepared for Saturday’s fight.
“I hope he’s working hard and training extra hard for this fight. I don’t want it to be an easy fight. I want to be your nightmare after this fight and not before because I want you to get a good night’s sleep.”
Agbeko plans to sleep like a baby – after he shuts Darchinyan’s mouth in the ring.
“They call him The Raging Bull. I call him The Raging Bulls***ter. You can make all of the jokes about King Kong, and call me Chimpanzee, but remember this: once King Kong enters the jungle, no other animal can survive.”
And with more than a day before fight, the game is already afoot.
Etc.:
Promoters Don King and Gary Shaw talked during the press conference of their repeat business as co-promoters for several past, present and future Showtime events, including next month’s super lightweight gem between Nate Campbell and Tim Bradley.
What wasn’t touched on until afterwards was the fact that no matter who’s arm is raised in this weekend’s bantamweight fight, Shaw remains in the promotion of the winner’s next fight. In the on-deck circle for the alphabet title at stake on Saturday night is Yohnny Perez, who beat Silence Mabuza a month ago to earn the mandatory title shot…
The evening’s co-feature is also King versus Shaw, when Anges Adjaho (promoted by King) takes on Antonio DeMarco, who proudly fights under the GSP banner. The winner is the mandatory challenger to the alphabet title presently in the possession of undefeated Venezuelan brawler Edwin Valero…
Officials have been named for the main event and co-feature. It’s all Florida officials for both bouts, which is often the case for fights staged in the Sunshine State, regardless of what sanctioning bodies’ belts are at stake.
Tommy Kimmons will serve as the third man for Agbeko-Darchinyan, with Michael Pernick, Mike Ross and Rocky Young sitting ringside as the bout’s three judges.
Veteran referee Telis Assimenios has been asked to maintain order for the co-feature between Adjaho and DeMarco. Judges for the bout will be Michael Pernick, Mike Ross and Alex Levin.
Jake Donovan is the managing editor of Boxingscene.com and an award-winning member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com.