Boxing Rostrum

Vic Darchinyan has got his bragging voice back. As a world flyweight champion he had begun to look like a monster, and sound like one too, before getting a seeing to from Nonito Donaire who blasted him out with a huge left hook to take the IBF title in July of last year.

Now the rehabilitated Darchinyan is dishing out the verbals again in advance of his super flyweight unification match with Cristian Mijares on Saturday. “I’m going to break you in half” is what he’s told the Mexican.

Can’t wait for the fight, myself. Vic is dangerous alright, and always comes to fight, but Mijares is the kind of technician it’s a joy to watch, at least through my eyes. His masterpiece was a twelve rounds drubbing of fellow Mexican Jorge Arce and anything like a repeat of that form would figure to be enough to tame Darchinyan.

There are doubts, though, because blabbermouth has serious firepower and is the type who doesn’t make threats lightly. He really does believe he’s going to plough his way right through Cristian Mijares.

In prospect, with that pronounced clash of styles, it’s a beautiful match. May the best man win, of course, but I hope the best man is Mijares. Nothing personal in that. I just like smooth operators.

Quizzed post-fight, Bob Arum said he didn’t know the reasons for Kelly Pavlik’s non performance against Bernard Hopkins but that, yes, going up to 168 could have been a factor. When asked at the same time about Pacquiao and De La Hoya, Arum readily agreed that Manny will be in a similar situation to that just faced by Pavlik.

That, of course, doesn’t necessarily mean the Filipino icon won’t beat Oscar when they meet but does put into perspective what he’ll be up against, and also explains the glory awaiting Pacquiao if he can somehow pull it off. It's not a vision of glory that has made this match happen, though. Something else is entirely responsible for that.

Immediately after defeating David Diaz in style to win the WBC lightweight crown, Pacquiao was asked in the ring whether he’d stay at 135 or drop back down to super feather. Manny raised a few eyebrows by turning things around, saying he felt good where he was at and would even be happy to up it again and look for action at 140.

Having watched him destroy the brave Diaz, in the way that he did, it seemed reasonable to believe Manny could indeed go on to give the light welters something to think about. But the prospect of ambitions beyond that were quashed there and then. By whom? None other than Bob Arum. Arum ruled out an invasion of 147 pounds territory, not actually deeming it mission impossible but intimating it would be altogether a step too far in terms of physical concession. “We’ll leave Cotto alone,” he said at the time, with meaning.

Then up pops Oscar De La Hoya and, hey, 147 suddenly takes on an altogether different aspect. One can only speculate as to the millions of reasons why.

The only round Kelly Pavlik took last night was handed to him by the ref when he pulled a point from Hopkins for holding in round nine. I had everything else for Bernard in a fight where the old timer was superb in every way. Kelly got an all the way lesson from a man who wasn’t just a teacher in that ring but a consummate master of his science.

I’ve got plenty of respect for Kelly Pavlik. He’s a menacing fighter with serious fire power, and maybe he can go back to being a dominant middleweight champion, but he looked clueless here and appeared mentally defeated very early. The scars in his head could take some healing.

Having twice coped with Jermain Taylor, who’s quick and mobile, there seemed no reason why Pavlik shouldn’t be effective or at least competitive against Hopkins. Didn’t happen that way, though, did it. Why? Because Bernard, as so many times before – and as he said he would this time too – came with a perfect strategy and had everything needed to implement it.

Hopkins made a statement by starting aggressively, letting Kelly know he wasn’t up against a guy who’d just be aiming to cutie his way through off the back foot. And when Pavlik tried to unload like he usually does, Bernard’s movement stopped Kelly from getting properly set. Jermain Taylor might have speed and mobility but Hopkins has those and other little things too, twitches and subtle shifts that throw the opponent off and keep him guessing. When Kelly tried to jab, Hopkins slipped it and countered hard. That made Pavlik hesitant and, when he then kept advancing without throwing, Hopkins was only too willing to take the initiative himself, jumping in with lead rights and fast bursts. The left hook was also working a treat. Youngstown's finest became confused then completely bewildered. Bernard Hopkins couldn’t do anything wrong. Kelly Pavlik couldn’t do anything at all.

Hopkins says people allow a dislike of his personality to prevent them giving credit to his worth as an athlete. He’s got a point. Dislike him or not, though, anybody denying the man his due for last night’s exhibition has got to be blind, or plain stupid.

I had expected Bernard to give Pavlik real problems, the same as I’d been sure he’d prove a serious test for Joe Calzaghe, but no way did I see him using Kelly as some sort of demonstration dummy. What we had was a 43 year old boxer totally outclassing the undefeated middleweight champion of the world, and doing it at a fast clip through the full dozen, with a last round blitz to finish it off. Truly amazing stuff.