Vic Darchinyan: Australia's Hope Against Jorge Arce

This Feb. 7, Vic Darchinyan of Australia is set to face Jorge Arce of Mexico.

While Darchinyan is favored to win the bout, Jorge Arce can take some confidence in the fact that he has never lost to an Australian.

In 2005, Jorge Arce destroyed highly-touted boxing Australian boxing product Hussein Hussein in two highly anticipated bouts. Boxing legend Jeff Fenech trained Hussein for both fights.

Hussein, or simply “Hussy” as Fenech called him was Fenech’s most famous charge and due to the Fenech connection he had captivated favorable media attention.

Before the first bout, Fenech encouraged Hussein to fight Jorge Arce the same way that Jeff Fenech in his prime would’ve fought Jorge Arce.

Apparently, Hussein Hussein’s impression of Jeff Fenech involved him wadding in and trading punches with Jorge Arce who was clearly the bigger puncher. Hussein was knocked down several times in the March fight in route to a 10th-round TKO loss.

The October rematch was highly anticipated by Australian boxing circles.

In the rematch, Hussein was down in both the first and second rounds.

The knockdowns appeared to be more-or-less flash knockdowns, and Hussein had enough poise to try and box Jorge Arce this time around rather than try to win another slugfest.

Abruptly, Jeff Fenech decided to throw in the towel in only the second round of the fight. Hussien was visibly upset by this, and even legendary referee Kenny Bayless, normally a man with a poker face, seemed a bit shocked by Fenech’s sudden move to end the fight.

At the time, Jeff Fenech was also training Vic Darchinyan.

Today, Darchinyan is currently being trained by Billy Hussein, an Australian trainer and Hussein Hussein's brother. Both Jeff Fenech and the Hussein family would like nothing more than to see their fellow countryman Vic Darchinyan be the first Australian to defeat Jorge Arce.

Vic Darchinyan has proved to the Australian boxing community he has the style, personality and skill to be an international boxing star. Indeed, Vic Darchinyan’s name may one day earn him a spot in the Parthenon of Australian boxing stars along side the likes Kostya Tszyu and Jeff Fenech.

The Jorge Arce fight provides the biggest stage yet for Darchinyan not only to defend Australian pride but, to emerge as one of the brightest stars in boxing.