Vic Darchinyan To Get Another Title Shot

In a bit of a surprise move, it seems that Gary Shaw has managed to get Vic Darchinyan another title shot, this time against WBC bantamweight titlist Shinsuke Yamanaka, according to Dan Rafael at ESPN. The fight will take place on April 1 in Tokyo.

Evil Vic had an interesting showing in the Showtime bantamweight tournament. He had a great, close fight with Abner Mares, where Mares came from behind to snatch a good win. Then Vic looked very good and powerful in his fight against Yonnhy Perez, winning a technical decision. The fight was stopped due to one of those accidental headbutts which happens when you have an awkward fighter like Darchiynan. However, Vic is coming off of a very disappointing performance against Anselmo Moreno. Moreno put on a defensive clinic and dominated Darchinyan en route to an easy points win.

Yamanaka is promoted by Teiken Boxing and has solely fought in Japan and only has 17 fights even though he turned pro in 2006. Shinsuke won the vacant WBC bantamweight title by knocking out Christian Esquivel in the 11th round last November. Most people haven't seen any tape of Shinsuke and neither has Gary Shaw.

"I haven't seen any film on him but I was able to make the fight for Vic. I'll get some film and have a better feeling of what we are up against after I look at it. I give credit to Vic for wanting to always fight the best and being willing to travel around the world to fight wherever the opportunity is."

I found the entire fight with Esquivel on Youtube in about 10 seconds. Shinsuke is a tall fighter who uses his jab to control distance. It looks like he fights in a bit of a European style, straight up and using his foot speed to avoid punches. He has a decent straight right that he uses for power. I will give Vic some respect for going to Tokyo and trying to win a title from a relative unknown. What do you guys think of this fight? Would you watch it if it was replayed on Showtime?