By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Cocky Vic Darchinyan whose mouth was shut by a vicious hook from “The Filipino Flash” Nonito Donaire who took away his IBF and IBO flyweight titles last July 7 arrived in Cebu Saturday night amidst predictions of stopping Z “The Dream” Gorres in their IBF super flyweight world title eliminator at the plush Waterfront Hotel on Saturday.
A report from Cebu said the hard-hitting Darchinyan tried to shake off the effects of a long flight by working out at the hotel gym. He is slated to hold a public workout Monday evening and a private workout at the famed ALA Gym on Tuesday.
While Darchinyan and his handlers do all the talking, the soft-spoken Gorres isn’t saying much and will clearly depend on his boxing skills to defeat the aggressive Aussie who didn’t look at all impressive in his twelfth round stoppage of journeyman Federico Catubay in his last fight.
The man billed as Australia’s greatest trainer Johnny Lewis is confident that Darchinyan will knock out Gorres “as long as the referee doesn’t stutter on the count” obviously forgetting that referee Lance Revill is a New Zealander and was chosen by the IBF along with Australian supervisor Ray Wheatley and Australian judge Cec Perkins with Thailand’s Montol Suriyachand and a Filipino judge who was named to replace journalist Salven :Lagumbay.
Lewis said that Darchinyan will recover from his loss to Donaire who caught him “with a great shot” adding that “Vic has learned from that loss and is primed to explode in the Philippines.”
Meantime the response to the fight has been tremendous and Michael Aldeguer who has assumed the mantle of leadership from his father, boxing patron Tony Aldeguer said it promises to be a sell-out and a great night of boxing.
The fights will be telecast by Solar Sports with Donaire doing the commentary alongside veteran Quinito Henson.
Gorres who was robbed of the title in a horrendous decision that enabled WBO champion Fernando Montiel to retain his crown last March in Cebu realizes that a victory in the title eliminator will put him in line for a mandatory against Dimitri Kirilov who he has sparred with and gotten the better of at Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym in the past.
