VIC Darchinyan promises Federico Catubay will pay dearly for his disrespect in next Saturday's battle for the vacant IBO super-flyweight title after the trash-talking Filipino taunted: "I can't wait to retire him."
Returning to the ring after losing his IBF and IBO flyweight titles to another Filipino, Nonito Donaire, in July, Darchinyan is eyeing a rematch.
First, however, he must dispose of Catubay at Auburn RSL on October 20 after stepping up a weight division to super-flyweight.
Catubay's record of 20 wins, 13 losses and three draws is far inferior to that of Darchinyan's (28 wins, 22 KOs, one loss) but it didn't stop the man dubbed "Magnifico" from taunting the Armenian-born Australian.
Vic Darchinyan Video |  |
"Tell him not to run," Catubay said. "If he's the tough boy he thinks he is, Darchinyan should walk the talk.
"He's so full of himself. I can't wait to retire him."
Darchinyan said he was aware of Catubay's broadside and would show the boxing world the loss to Donaire - the only one of his career - was merely an aberration. To make sure, he has been training six days a week and employed seven different sparring partners, including light-welterweight compatriot Lovemore Ndou.
"He is talking big that he's going to knock me out," Darchinyan said.
"It's getting me more and more motivated for this fight. I'm going to show Vic Darchinyan is back."
Darchinyan's obsession with knocking out his opponents finally backfired in his bout with Donaire, the 31-year-old leaving himself exposed to a massive left hook which ended the fight in the fifth round. Although he is confident he has the power to finish off Catubay early, the Aussie southpaw won't make the same mistake twice.
"It's the first loss in my career and it will help me more," he said.
"I can knock out anyone, if I'm patient the knockout time will come.
"I learned a lot from my mistake, I didn't want to wait for the best time, just knock him out with one punch.
"I can't change myself. I like knockouts, but I'm going to be patient. Twelve rounds is a long time, it's 36 minutes of fighting. It's going to happen, it doesn't matter which round."
Gary Shaw, the promoter for both Darchinyan and Donaire, will fly in from the US to watch the fight with a view to possibly granting Darchinyan a chance of redemption against Donaire.
"The sole reason he's coming out is to see where Vic's at," said Darchinyan's manager Elias Nasser.
"Things have changed. Vic is treating every opponent from now on as Superman. He's looking absolutely phenomenal.
"The days of being overconfident and *****y have been thrown out the window."
Photo: Simon Alekna
Source: The Sun-Herald
