Vic Darchinyan didn’t even need his rematch clause against Nonito Donaire Jr. but he definitely could’ve used it any time since being ‘Youtubed’ by Donaire in what was BWAA’s 2007 ‘Knockout of the Year’.
Being the champion when Donaire embarrassed him, Darchinyan could’ve exercised his right to get his belts back. Donaire after all at the time was under the same promotional umbrella he was in. But for some odd reason, Team Darchinyan and his promotional team avoided the much anticipated rematch that Donaire was, from day one, ready to grant him.
Instead, Darchinyan opted to do his fighting outside the ring throwing hay-makers at Donaire which otherwise could not connect in the ring when they first fought. Darchinyan has repeatedly called Donaire names like ‘The Filipino Fraud’ and claimed that Donaire’s win was simply due to a lucky punch and that he did not get hurt by Donaire. Last time I checked, Nonito was probably on a hot streak because that punch, the left hook, landed all night.
Donaire in return had answered by demanding a rematch and vowed to knock Darchinyan out again and even went as far as calling Darhinyan his ‘dog’. As recently as last week when Fernando Montiel defeated Hozumi Hasegawa in Japan, in an interview, I asked Donaire whether Montiel was somebody he wanted to fight next. Donaire responded by saying he had always wanted to fight Montiel and is open to move up to 118 and fight the Mexican bantamweight champion, but only after he fights Vic Darchinyan in August.
A couple of days ago, Donaire flew to Las Vegas expecting that a deal was finally done for him to face Darchinyan in the ring once again. In a bizarre twist, Top Rank president Todd duBeof met with Donaire to tell him that Vic Darchinyan had backed out from the negotiations and ‘did not want anything to do with Nonito”.
