RICK STAHELI, the American trainer who helped Manny Pacquaio become world champion, predicts Vic Darchinyan will have little trouble retaining his three super-flyweight belts against Jorge Arce this weekend - but he doubts the Sydneysider would be as successful if he got his wish of a bout with the pound-for-pound king.
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Since winning his first world title in 2004, Darchinyan has been pursuing a fight with Pacquaio, and he continued to talk up the prospect at yesterday's weigh-in at a Los Angeles shopping mall.
Eyeballing Arce's promoter, Bob Arum, who also manages Pacquaio along with middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik and welterweight Miguel Cotto, Darchinyan said: "Keep on bringing your good fighters. I'll demolish them all."
But Staheli, who is in Australia helping Shannan Taylor to prepare for Wednesday night's middleweight bout with Anthony Mundine, believes Darchinyan would more than meet his match against Pacquaio.
"Manny would kill him," said the Philippines-based trainer, who was in Pacquaio's corner when he stopped Thailand's Chatchai Sasakul to claim the WBC flyweight title in 1998.
"He's been talking like this for a while now but all Vic really wants is a big payday. Everyone wants to fight Manny because it's huge money, but if it was to ever happen Vic would get absolutely destroyed.
"He is a super-flyweight and Manny is fighting at welterweight now, and in the history of boxing when has the super-flyweight world champion gone up to welterweight and beaten the pound-for-pound champion of the world? It has never happened and it never will."
Pacquaio successfully made the transition last year when he stepped up from super-featherweight to win the WBC lightweight title against David Diaz and then beat Oscar De La Hoya at light-middleweight - although, Staheli said, the then 35-year-old boxing great was past his best.
He said the same of Arce, the former WBC light flyweight champion, whose only loss in the past decade was a 2007 points decision to Christian Mijares - the fellow Mexican who lost his WBC super-flyweight title to Darchinyan last November.
"Vic has got huge power, he is really unorthodox and he gives some people some problems, so I wouldn't be surprised if he won this," Staheli said. "But Manny is at the top of his game right now, and he's looking to fight the Ricky Hattons of this world - and maybe Floyd Mayweather and Shane Mosley.
But Darchinyan said he was prepared to wait for an opportunity to fight Pacquaio.
"I want to move up and fight Manny Pacquaio," he said. "[But] I will take my time, one by one. I'm not going to rush. I'll do it when I'm ready to go, and that will be a good fight."
