World bantamweight champion Joseph Agbeko has vowed to beat up Australia's Vic Darchinyan in the same manner Azumah Nelson pummelled Jeff Fenech 17 years ago.
The Ghanaian ignited a war of words with the fiery Darchinyan during a conference call with reporters ahead of their July 11 world title fight in Florida.
As well as digging up the savage eight-round beating his countryman gave Fenech at Melbourne's Princes Park in 1992, Agbeko told Darchinyan to expect "the worst beating of his career".
"I'm going do to you what Azumah Nelson did to Jeff Fenech in Australia," 29-year-old Agbeko said.
"So get ready. OK?"
It is usually the quick-witted Darchinyan who slings the most trash-talk before his bouts but this time he had to take a back seat.
Halfway through the conference call Darchinyan's US promoter Gary Shaw stopped both fighters and suggested their verbal war was so entertaining the media should pull out their credit cards and pay to listen in.
Agbeko will defend his IBF title against 33-year-old Darchinyan, who is moving up a weight after unifying the super-flyweight division by winning the WBC, WBA and IBF belts.
The Australian said the extra weight would only make him stronger.
In his last victory in Los Angeles in February, Darchinyan beat up former Mexican champ Jorge Arce so severely the doctor stopped the bout because Arce could not see from his badly cut eyes.
"Joseph, I'm punching much harder than my last fight with Arce," Darchinyan said. "I'm punching five times harder.
"You are going to feel like someone is punching you in the head with a hammer."
The fight will be held at Florida's BankAtlantic Center.
LOS ANGELES AAP
