Despite the war of words being waged by Jorge “Travieso” Arce and undisputed super flyweight champion Vic Darchinyan in anticipation for their twelve round clash this Saturday night, not a peep has been heard from the two semi-main event participants, Antonio DeMarco and Almazbek Raiymkulov, better known as as “Kid Diamond.”
But as DeMarco (19-1-1, 13KO) prepares himself for what is the biggest step up in opposition in his young 24-fight career, the Tijuana native by way of Los Mochis, Mexico, breaks his silence.
“It’s a dream come true fighting on the undercard of such a big fight,” DeMarco commented as he took a break from his training. “Like I have said before, not only do I want to be a world champion but also a champion of life and I think this is one more step towards that goal.”
DeMarco-Raiymkulov is scheduled as the co-main event bout which will be televised by Showtime, along with Arce’s challenge of Darchinyan for the latters three 115-pound belts.
DeMarco is coming of perhaps what is toughest fight to date when he faced Puerto Rican Jose Reyes in September of last year. DeMarco, after controlling most of the early rounds of the bout, struggled mid fight before closing strong.
“That fight has been like all the others in my career, another test,” says DeMarco. “Reyes had a lot of experience, he was at one point the WBO Latino champion, I think that we showed what we can do although there was some shortcomings there on my part, but I see that as a good thing because we have been working on those here at the gym.”
Now he faces the awkward Kid Diamond for the vacant NABO lightweight title on the biggest stage of his career.
“I was originally slated to fight on the 16th of January against Wes Ferguson but Gary Shaw called my trainer and manager Romulo Quirarte and offered him this fight with KId Diamond,” says DeMarco with a smile. “He mentioned that this was going to be one of those very rare opportunities that I would get during my career so I immediately jumped on the chance and I hugged my trainer and with a big smile on my face and thanked him.”
Kid Diamond, who holds a record of 27 wins against only one loss and one draw with 15 of those wins from the short route, is the most experienced fighter that DeMarco has faced. The lone loss came against the current undisputed lightweight champion Nate Campbell, and the draw against Joel Casamayor, in a bout that many believed that the Russian won. Although DeMarco is considered the underdog, he is not worried about the odds against him.
“We have heard all the predictions that have been made for this fight and we are taking them with a level head,” says DeMarco. “They are the same things that were said when I fought for ten rounds for the first time. I am taking this fight as just one more, just one more fight in my career and with my corner, I know that we will come up ahead. I have seen his fights on tape. He is a tough strong fighter who is always coming at you throwing punches but at the same time he opens up a lot and he gets hit a lot.”
Despite the fact that recently Kid Diamond has had some issues outside of boxing, DeMarco is not expecting anything but the best Raiymkulov and considers this test not only a big one for him, but for his opponent as well.
“I do think this is an important fight for both of us. Both of us are at different parts of our careers so this fight is important for both for different reasons. We are training for the best ‘Kid Diamond’ there is.”