By Jake Donovan

Former lineal junior flyweight king Jorge “El Travieso” Arce kept alive plans for a bantamweight title fight with Eric Morel after turning back the challenge of fringe contender Cecilio Santos.

The wildly popular Mexican overcame a shaky start to wear down and stop Santos early in the seventh round of their Fox Sports Espanol-televised main event on Saturday evening at El Centro de Usos Multiples in Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, Mexico.

Both fighters weighed 119 lb, as Arce’s alphabet super flyweight title was not at stake.

Arce was assertive yet measured in the early rounds, surprisingly fighting in reverse but still making his presence felt with heavy right hands upstairs as well as a dedicated body attack. The smaller Santos enjoyed his most success of the fight with his jab, which landed often but was rarely followed up with anything of substance.

Santos’ role for the fight was supposed to be that of notable opponent. Apparently word of that never made its way to Mexico City, as the former title challenger offered his best work of the fight in the third round, often catching Arce to the body and beating him to the punch.

Things quickly righted themselves in the fourth. Arce ramped up the attack, much to the delight of the crowd on hand. He enjoyed a good rhythm until a clash of heads produced a cut on the bridge of his nose, prompting the referee to have a ringside doctor survey the damage.

The cut was well tended to by Arce’s corner, allowing the free swinging Mexican to fire away without fear of interruption in the fifth. Plenty of leather landed, though defense was sacrificed as a result, allowing Santos to connect with several shots upstairs.

Non-stop two-way action was produced in a wild sixth round, with Arce finishing strong with a flurry at and considerably after the bell was the referee was late to get into position to separate the two fighters.

Sensing wounded prey, Arce flew off of his stool and emptied both barrels in the seventh. Santos spent nearly the entire aborted frame in a defensive crouch along the ropes before a perfectly placed left hook to the liver floored him for the full ten count.

The official time was 0:58 of the seventh round.

It’s now two straight wins for Arce, whose career appeared left for dead after an abysmal 2009 campaign that was bookended by lopsided losses at the championship level. He improves to 54-6-1 (41KO) as he begins to wind down a long and storied career now in its 15th year.

At least one more attempt at alphabet glory is in his future, as plans are in place for a bantamweight fight with Eric Morel later this summer.

If there’s any justice, retirement will be the next option for Santos, who falls to 24-14-3 (14KO) with the loss. The Mexican journeyman was competitive in spots, but the hard truth is that he’s completely done on the contender level.

He is now a dismal 2-7-1 over his last ten fights, though in his defense having come against a virtual who’s who of the lower weight classes. Still, six of those losses have come inside the distance, including his last three fights.

The televised co-feature saw Joksan Hernandez recover from two early knockdowns to rally back hard late in the fight, scoring a tenth-round stoppage of Miguel Beltran Jr. in a battle of Mexican featherweight prospects.

Both fighters weighed 131 lb. for the bout.

It appeared as if matters would be wrapped up in a hurry when Beltran sent his countryman to the canvas midway through the opening round. Hernandez was up early and took the full eight-count, but quickly found himself once again under siege, before a right, left hook and right hand combo sent him back to the canvas hard.

Hernandez managed to not only survive the round, but brawl his way back into the fight. Beltran Jr was still taking the majority of the rounds, but began to fall apart late in the fight.

An uppercut from Hernandez dislodged Beltran’s mouthpiece in the seventh round, a sequence that proved to be the beginning of the end. A right hand late in the eighth pinned Beltran along the ropes, though the previously unbeaten Mexican managed to survive the round.

Not so much the case in the final round, when Hernandez went for broke and struck gold.

A flurry along the ropes left Beltran defenseless before collapsing in a heap. Referee Juan Jose Ramirez gave him every chance to peel himself off of the canvas, but the best Beltran could manage was to stagger to his feet before falling back down as the count reached “ten.”

The official time was 2:08 of the tenth round.

With the win, Hernandez (19-2, 12KO) turns around his career big-time. The battle-tested Mexican was threatening to gain a reputation as a fighter who fell short whenever stepping up in competition. He entered the fight lacking a meaningful win, but now has one thanks to the never-say-die attitude exhibited, particularly late in the fight.

On the other side of the coin, Beltran Jr. is forced to rebuild. He loses for the first time in his young career, falling to 22-1 (15KO). He entered the bout having outlasted Miguel Roman in his last contest, one of seven wins he posted in a 2009 campaign that saw him gradually upgrade the competition.

The show was presented by Top Rank, Inc. and Zanfer Promotions.

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com and an award-winning member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com