This Saturday, April 23, two-division titleholder Vic Darchinyan (35-3-1, 27 KOs), of Sydney, Australia, by way of Vanadzok, Armenia, and former IBF bantamweight champion Yonnhy Perez (20-1-1, 14 KOs), of Santa Fe Springs, Calif., by way of Cartagena, Colombia, will clash in a key 12-round co-feature for the IBO Bantamweight World Title and a WBA Bantamweight final eliminator from Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE.
VIC DARCHINYAN
“I appreciate that people say I’m responsible for getting so many Armenians to go to fights in Southern California and other places, and I expect to see a lot of them waving flags and cheering for me on Saturday. But these people are just good boxing fans that like my style and know that I always give my best and put on exciting fights. If they didn’t like my style, or I made bad fights, they wouldn’t show up.
“I am very confident I will knock out Perez, destroy him. I feel stronger than I ever have. I will not slow down if the fight goes into the later rounds. I will not get tired. The last time, I made the weight a week before the fight. This time, I will make the weight on Friday.
“The last time, I fought stupid against Mares. I wanted to box more and showcase my skills. This time I’m going back to my old style of fighting. I am coming in to destroy.
“I hope the referee lets me fight. Against Mares, the ref was in my ear the whole fight: don’t do this, don’t do that, watch yourself here, watch yourself there. Mentally, he took me out of my fight.
“After this fight, I want to challenge for the title. I want a rematch against Mares or Donaire. For Donaire to say he doesn’t need to give me a rematch, after I gave him a shot at my title, just shows how much he is afraid of me and doesn’t want to fight.”