BOX:DARCHINYAN TO FIGHT FOR WBA TITLE IN JAPAN

AAP Newsfeed
January 17, 2012 Tuesday 5:26 PM AEST
Australia

Australia’s three-division boxing world champion Vic Darchinyan has
been given the chance to fight for another bantamweight crown, with
an April 1 challenge to Japan’s WBC champion Shinsuke Yamanaka.

The fight is expected to be staged in Tokyo.

Southpaw Yamanaka, 29, (15-0-2 11 KOs) will be making the first
defence of the title he won last November.

All of his professional fights have been in Japan, but fighting in
that country holds no fears for Darchinyan.

“In Vic’s T-shirt sales, Japan ranks number two behind Armenia and
Russia, so he’s got a lot of Japanese followers,” Darchinyan’s manager
Elias Nassar told AAP.

“He loves the style of Japanese fighters because they are warriors
and they come to fight and that’s the way Vic thinks boxing should be.

“He (Yamanaka) is very aggressive, he won’t be intimidated and doesn’t
take a backward step.”

Darchinyan’s professional record dropped to 37-4-1 (27 KOs) after
his points loss last month to WBA bantamweight Super champion Anselmo
Moreno.

Nassar said Darchinyan received a lot of offers following the loss,
but had a warning for all those people who considered his charge a
trial horse.

“Vic has always been very good off the rebound, people start to doubt
him and he becomes an underdog and he wants to prove everyone wrong
and puts in a stunning performance,” Nassar said.

“They put one and one together and they see he is 36 years old, he’s
at the end of his game and a lot of people suddenly think Vic is a
stepping stone.

“You want to be careful what you wish for if you think Vic Darchinyan
is a stepping stone.”

Nassar said Darchinyan was still in the United States but had already
resumed training and was ecstatic at the prospect of fighting in Japan.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress