In a pair of nice depth-building moves for their roster, Top Rank has signed Vic Darchinyan and Luis Carlos Abregu, both of whom have scheduled upcoming bouts.
Darchinyan, 37, is at the back end of his career, but remains a fearless and solid fighter, though he has without question failed more than truly succeeded when fighting above 115 pounds. He was a long-standing dominant force at 112 until Nonito Donaire knocked him out in 2007, but he recovered from that to dominate a then-hot Cristian Mijares in 2008, unifying three super flyweight titles.
After a win over Jorge Arce, Darchinyan (38-5-1, 27 KO) tried his luck at bantamweight, where he lost to IBF titlist Joseph Agbeko. In subsequent bantamweight title bouts, Darchinyan came up short against Anselmo Moreno and Shinsuke Yamanaka, and also lost to Abner Mares. Overall, he went 3-4 as a bantamweight, with his best win coming against Yonnhy Perez in April 2011.
However, the aging "Raging Bull" moved up to 122 pounds last October, and thwarted prospect Luis Del Valle, winning a decision on HBO. The move to Top Rank opens up a lot of potential fights, including, perhaps, a bout with Guillermo Rigondeaux, or a long-desired rematch with Donaire later this year.
Darchinyan returns May 11 in a fight against Javier Gallo, which will be broadcast on UniMas.
Abregu, 29, was also a big winner late last year on a low-key edition of HBO Boxing After Dark, overwhelming another Puerto Rican prospect, Thomas Dulorme. The Argentinean's only career loss came to Timothy Bradley in 2010, and it wasn't a bad showing or anything.
Since then, he's gone 5-0, all wins by stoppage, though mostly against mediocre opponents. He's set to fight on April 27, against Antonin Decarie, as part of the Martinez-Murray undercard.