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A few days ago Vic Darchinyan whispered during an interview in Los Angeles: "I have a secret, but I can't tell you until I destroy Mijares."
On Saturday, with the boxing world watching, Darchinyan stepped into the ring at LA's Home Depot Centre and destroyed the sport's supposed next big thing, Mexico's beloved Cristian Mijares, with a barrage of punches that knocked him down in the first round and rendered him helpless in the ninth.
Soon after, Darchinyan kept his word.
His secret is he is looking up.
Way up.
Darchinyan wants boxing's biggest payday, Oscar De La Hoya, and will climb eight weight divisions to fight him.
It is not a surprise.
The Sydneysider's American promoter Gary Shaw often tells the press how if he told Darchinyan he had to fight Mike Tyson, the fearless Darchinyan would jump straight into the ring.
On paper it looks like a mismatch.
Darchinyan has the stature of a jockey, standing at just 166 centimetres.
Saturday's World Boxing Council, World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation world-title contest against Mijares was fought at the 52.16-kilogram, or 115 pound, super-flyweight division.
De La Hoya is 179 centimetres tall, has a reach of 185 centimetres and will fight the Philippines' firebrand, Manny Pacquiao, in December at Las Vegas's MGM Grand at the welterweight limit of 66.7 kilograms.
"We're going to fight De La Hoya at a catch-weight of 152 pounds [68.9 kilograms]," announced Shaw, with a smile on his face.
Darchinyan, standing before his burly promoter, also sported a huge grin.
It may seem a mismatch with De La Hoya and probably won't happen, but Pacquiao is a former flyweight champion and stands at just 169 centimetre, so never say never
The other option, Darchinyan and Shaw said, was they would follow up Saturday's career-making win by embarking on a search and destroy mission in the divisions above super flyweight, with potential stellar match-ups against marquee super bantam-weights Israel Vazquez or Rafael Marquez or super featherweight champ Joan Guzman.
But, they don't call De La Hoya the Golden Boy for nothing.
De La Hoya is expected to pocket at least $US25 million for fighting Pacquiao, with tens of millions more potentially for his slice of the bout's pay-per-view buys.
Pacquiao will earn at least $US15 million.
No wonder Darchinyan and Shaw were smiling when they announced their ambitious plan.
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