Vakhtang "The Raging Bull" Darchinyan appreciation thread.

You know something? I really disliked him, in Vic's heyday. He grew on me, though - kind of a decade-long slow-burn.

Originally he was just an entertaining fighter (if a technical disaster and coach's nightmare) in the ring, and equally as entertaining caricature of a trash-talking mouthpiece outside it - but not somebody I rooted for, per se. Nor against, per se. He just seemed a blowhard in love with his own power. I'd tune into his fights with no real emotional investment. So when a then still relatively unknown Filipino counter-puncher (with stylistic attributes more akin to many of my favorite boxers of all time) by the name of Nonito Donaire nobly avenged his brother Glenn's defeat & transformed himself into a star with an epic check hook against Darch, it pleased me. The story didn't end, there, however. Things quickly took a turn. Enraged, the Bull went on a tear, jumping up to super flyweight and venting his frustrations on the division's upper tier. He felt compelled to first target & thrash a countryman of Donaire's to exorcise those demons. Poor little Federico Catubay. But after ravaging the hapless journeyman, the Armenia-Aussie's blood-thirst wasn't sated - and that's when 2008 happened:

First, in February, he saw fit to invade the Philippines to rough up yet another of Donaire's countryman, the beloved Z Gorres, in front of a hostile crowd in an IBF title eliminator. Darchinyan fought hard & dirty, trading knockdowns (both officially ruled & dismissed as slips) with Gorres and causing the initial brain-bleed that would eventually halt Gorres' career and render him effectively invalid for much of his subsequent young-to-middle adulthood. I had seen Gorres in a few of his appearances on US soil. I liked Gorres. I was horrified to see the powerful southpaw contentedly & with no compunctions, repeatedly wail on Gorres after stunning or momentarily freezing him with headbutts/rabbit punches/low blows...and even more horrified to learn of Gorres' condition afterwards.

Then, exactly six months later, he fought another pure technician, one I had seen even more of than Gorres (having also campaigned in the US a few times, and recently fought in the co-main event with Holyfield vs. Ibragimov) and of whose ring craft I was decidedly a fan. Unfortunately, this is right around when Floyd Mayweather Jr. was peaking in popularity and everyone and their mother saw fit to emulate his style. The seasoned Russian amateur, who knew better, caught the fever and started carrying his left hand low. Darchinyan spotted the opening and barraged it with nonstop torpedo left hand leads, and that was that. A more skillful boxer, whom I'd been hoping would be able to outbox & tame Gorres' injurer, got easily dominated and KTFO. C'est la vie...

Then on November 1st came the ultimate transgression. A little background: Cristian Mijares was at that particular moment probably my favorite active fighter and climbing ever higher on my personal contemporary p4p list. I cautioned the Arce hype brigade that he was liable to get the "Jeff Lacy" treatment when underestimating the obscure Mexican with the low KO rate, and lo and behold, it happened...and there was bragging. Mijares of course was "punished" for upsetting the marketable house fighter, and was invited onto HBO airwaves just once in his next five matches (the rest taking place in Mexico), third-billed on the Pavlik vs. Taylor II PPV, behind another super flyweight title bout. He unified the WBC and WBA titles in this period, consistently showing a dazzling ability to slip & counter, anticipating his opponents' every move. He was firmly solidified as my idealized version of a pure textbook pugilist by late 2008. I was heading up the El Diamante hype train and shouting from the mountaintops for anybody that would listen what a special talent he was. Fellow stylists couldn't outpoint him. No puncher could touch him. And then... he got utterly dismantled by a crass, arrogant southpaw with apparently limited fundamentals and this awkward, crab-walking style, who entered a 3-1 underdog.

Needless to say, the hype train never recovered (although Mijares did quietly rebuild his good name via longevity and consistent performances against solid opposition while climbing up in weight; still, he would never regain the stature in the sport held in 2007/2008) and I vowed never to forgive Darchinyan.

Joe Agbeko, then Abner Mares, then Anselmo Moreno, and then Shinsuke Yamanaka became personal heroes when each defeated him over 12. After that, however, something changed. His next four losses - all by KO - weren't anywhere near as satisfying, beginning with the Donaire rematch. I think my sympathy began to grow because Darchinyan had already begun to look a shell of himself versus Yamanaka, so much so that he was a diminished-value trophy and, in my view, kind of a cherry-pick for Donaire at that stage of their respective careers. So, when Darch mounted a valiant effort in the middle rounds and unexpectedly gave his old nemesis some problems (albeit briefly, until succumbing in the 9th), I found myself actually...kind of rooting for him? Could it be?

Then in what has become all too familiar a tale of brutal matchmaking in a former champion's twilight days, he was tossed in directly on the heels of Donaire II with the much larger, undefeated puncher Nicholas Walters. I was kind of a Walters skeptic from the start and was sure the hype bubble would burst sooner than later, but he was clearly too much for Darchinyan at that point. Sure enough, battered him, and kayoed him in 5, although the ornery Aussie bravely got off the canvas a few times before going out cold on his shield.

I actually was pretty high on Jesús Marcelo Andrés Cuellar, another big strong featherweight whom I liked quite a bit more than Walters, but when he picked at the bones of the Raging Bull it was by then, for me, a non-creditable achievement. The fact that Vic managed to win two rounds on my card (and those of all three judges) made it a moral victory for him.

Weird how time can soften even the bitterest of grudges. With how much I loathed him for that run in 2008, you'd think seeing him passed around to be used hard and stopped at higher weights might've given me some vindictive sadistic delight. It didn't.

In hindsight, too, I'm more able to appreciate what he brought inside the ring. His style was, though admittedly quite dirty at times, unique and rather startlingly effective during his prime in the fly range. While he eschewed all the "correct" principles of stance, movement, and offensive approach, he managed to connect big while (mostly, outside Donaire having the measure of him with that star-making check hook) taking little punishment in return...and he always had an excellent chin to fall back on as his 2nd line of defense after his off-putting, unorthodox gorilla posture (and equally simian manner of ambling).

His trash-talk was also pretty mint. Remember him calling out Jermain Taylor - without a hint of irony - to meet, "mano a mano, champion vs. champion" when they wore the IBF/IBO flyweight and WBC/WBO/lineal middleweight straps, respectively? This was actually quite a clever dig, at both the futility of chasing the peers in or around his division that he considered to be ducking him (most notably Jorge Arce) plus a sly dig at Taylor having the reputation of spending his reign (before Pavlik) luring smaller men up to middleweight to bully them with size. He was a nut, and had I not been so anti-Vic in those days it might've registered just how damn funny he was.

Anyway, he's still as of this moment technically active - having fought one year ago tomorrow (meaning he's still within the grace period to remain in the rankings of BoxRec and every major sanctioning org) but with nothing scheduled and whatever rankings he did hold at featherweight (probably quite low; BoxRec places him 70th in the world) there would seem to be little point in banging on at the age of 42. He doesn't completely rule it out in recent interviews, but there is little of his old confident bluster in the "maybes". He's more likely going to start promoting and training younger fighters in Oz. Hopefully with an emphatic "do what I say, not what I did" so his charges don't rush out and get themselves hurt aping his mannerisms.

 

Probably deserves IBHOF, and...is he maybe top-5 all-time Down Under? The only sure things over him - factoring in both h2h and résumé - are Tszyu, Fenech, Rose & Famechon (he's clearly more accomplished than, say, Mundine, while some of the what-if legends such as Sands and Darcy simply weren't around long enough to build superior legacies) ...and IMO he doesn't compare too unfavorably with even the #1. Kostya was 14-2 in world title bouts; Vic was 12-5 and with perhaps overall better quality (although Tszyu possesses the best two names between them, with Judah and 38 year old JC Chávez).

He is also IMO the clear, hands-down all-time p4p #1 Armenian fighter, his nearest competition being Abraham, Grigorian, Martirosyan, Lemieux and Gevor.

Their male GOAT, anyway. Susi Kentikian had a phenomenal career.

 

Despite being a dyed-in-the-wool hater for many years I actually find myself copying his style (the crouching sideways gait, the dangling arms, the scouting right push-jab, and the boldly telegraphed hammer-cocking left hand lead drawn back and then catapulted upwards from the hip) while hitting the heavy bag just for laughs sometimes...and I've got to say it actually is fun as hell.

 

Seriously. Mijares became the butt of a thousand jokes overnight; all his good work before Darchinyan was just cast aside like it never happened. Fickle mother****ers.

 

@Sandman_ you were indeed a through and through Darchinyan supporter, long before and (more importantly) long after the rest of his bandwagon riders.

You and I used to clash a lot in the old days, because I probably had every bit as hard a time being objective towards Darchinyan as you (except with me in the role of hater, rather than super-fan), leading to a lot of me probably selling him short and you in response pumping up the hype for him in a cyclically volatile series of escalation ...but props, you backed your guy 100% all the way, even when the chips were down. Much as I (and I alone) did with Mijares.

 

Here's a little brain teaser...

While he's almost surely worthier of a higher placement on all-time p4p Aussie lists (I'd say most would agree top 5-8ish; while Jimmy is more 12-15ish), how does Vic at bantamweight specifically match up with fellow Australian great Carruthers?

https://www.boxingforum24.com/threa...all-filmed-boxing.603474/page-2#post-19065104

h2h @ 118lbs, the Carruthers of Toweel I vs. any version of Darchinyan that competed at the weight? (beat Farzan Ali Jr., Eric Barcelona, Yonnhy Perez, Evans Mbamba; lost to Joe Agbeko, Abner Mares, Anselmo Moreno and Shinsuke Yamanaka)

Would be wild, that much is a given.

 

Here's a little brain teaser...

While he's almost surely worthier of a higher placement on all-time p4p Aussie lists (I'd say most would agree top 5-8ish; while Jimmy is more 12-15ish), how does Vic at bantamweight specifically match up with fellow Australian great Carruthers?

https://www.boxingforum24.com/threa...all-filmed-boxing.603474/page-2#post-19065104

h2h @ 118lbs, the Carruthers of Toweel I vs. any version of Darchinyan that competed at the weight? (beat Farzan Ali Jr., Eric Barcelona, Yonnhy Perez, Evans Mbamba; lost to Joe Agbeko, Abner Mares, Anselmo Moreno and Shinsuke Yamanaka)

Would be wild, that much is a given.

 

Here's a little brain teaser...

While he's almost surely worthier of a higher placement on all-time p4p Aussie lists (I'd say most would agree top 5-8ish; while Jimmy is more 12-15ish), how does Vic at bantamweight specifically match up with fellow Australian great Carruthers?

https://www.boxingforum24.com/threa...all-filmed-boxing.603474/page-2#post-19065104

h2h @ 118lbs, the Carruthers of Toweel I vs. any version of Darchinyan that competed at the weight? (beat Farzan Ali Jr., Eric Barcelona, Yonnhy Perez, Evans Mbamba; lost to Joe Agbeko, Abner Mares, Anselmo Moreno and Shinsuke Yamanaka)

Would be wild, that much is a given.

 

Yeah, weird, I can vouch that you were definitely around.