By Jake Donovan
Faded former titlists Jorge Arce and Lorenzo Parra battled to a draw in their 10-round main event on Saturday night at Estadios Dorados in Culiacan, Mexico.
Scores were never announced, or at least didn’t make the live broadcast due to an extended commercial break shortly after the tenth and final round. Both fighters weighed 119 lb.
(Editors note: Revised scoring after the fight had Arce winning a split decision, though scores were still never announced)
Both fighters were cautious in the early going, words not often used to describe an Arce fight. Parra used his jab and movement to disrupt the rhythm of Arce, who remained on the hunt but wisely picked his spots rather than waste punches on a moving target.
Arce continued to stalk Parra in the second and third, enjoying more success with each passing round. As the fight progressed, Parra offered less and less fire power, instead content to fight in reverse and get out of harm’s way. A wise strategy if the plan was to survive, but certainly not the best way to try and win a fight on the road.
Little changed in the fourth and fifth rounds; Arce hunted, Parra circled. An occasional shoeshine was offered by the road fighter, though those flurries only lasted until Arce returned fire, at which point distance was once again created between the two.
Action picked up (relatively speaking) in the sixth, though not enough to avoid a cackle of boos from a Mexican crowd growing more impatient as the fight lingered on. Parra slowed down enough for two-way action to ensue, only to be warned for shoving Arce to the canvas.
Troubles continued for Parra, who was docked a point in the seventh for holding and hitting. Arce sought ways to bring the crowd into the fight, but Parra never remained stationary long enough to allow for the type of action that warranted cheers.
Arce took matters into his hands in the eighth, charging forward and daring Parra to fight back. The extra surge of aggression allowed the longtime fan favorite to close the gap, scoring with occasional body punches but his flow disrupted by frequent clinches from Parra.
In a strange twist, Arce slowed down considerably in the final two rounds, while Parra grew braver. The Venezuelan couldn’t have picked a better time to pick up the pace, as his strong effort down the stretch closed up the scorecard gap enough to where he was able to escape Mexico with a draw.
The fight was originally scheduled as a 12-round title eliminator, with the winner to face Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. Perhaps it’s a moot point that it was shortened to ten, thus removing the title shot factor, since no winner was produced in a fight that really didn’t deserve one.
Arce’s record moves to 55-6-2 (42KO) with the draw. He remains unbeaten in his past four fights, with his last loss coming on almost a year ago to the day.
Parra heads back to Venezuela with a career mark of 31-2-1 (18KO).
At his best, Parra was one of the very best in the sport while reigning as junior bantamweight titlist. His reign began on the road in Puerto Rico in 2003, defending the title in Japan, South Korea and France over the course of the next two years, before injuries and struggles to make weight led to his downfall in losing his belt to Takefumi Sakata in 2007.
He has since struggled to remain relevant, starting strong but ending wrong in a failed title bid against Celestino Caballero in 2008, and lacking a notable win since the 2007 loss to Sakata.
The draw against Arce breathes some life into his career, though it’s unclear where either fighter goes from here.
With a title shot still at stake and Vazquez scheduled for a defense next month, a rematch is always a possibility, although the lack of spirited action on Saturday might limit the demand for such a fight.
TELEVISED UNDERCARD: SOTO SLUGGISH, CHAVEZ IMPRESSIVE IN SEPARATE WINS
Whatever plans promoter Bob Arum has in store for Humberto Soto, now is the time to put them in motion.
The 30-year old lightweight titlist struggled through a sloppy affair in taking a unanimous decision over previously unbeaten challenger Fidel Monterrosa in their televised co-feature.
Scores were 115-112 (twice) and an insanely wide 118-109.
The defending titlist jumped out to an early lead, with his stellar workrate and pressure more than enough to control the action against his younger, inexperienced challenger.
Things began to unravel for Soto and in the fight itself beginning in the fifth round, when action slowed and questionable tactics took over. Clinching, low blows and canvas slippages seemed to occur far more than sustained action, with both fighters warned for an assortment of fouls.
The biggest surprise of the night came after the end of the eighth round, when open scoring revealed that Monterrosa had pulled even on one card, while down by two and four points in the eyes of the other two officials.
That the scores wound up as wide as they did by fights end seemed to be a bit of a surprise as the Colombian enjoyed some of his best work over the course of the final four rounds, particularly the tenth where he controlled the action for as long as both fighters remained on their feet, though sadly wasn’t very often.
What ultimately did in the challenger was two separate fouls in the ninth round.
Monterrosa was warned for sending Soto through the ropes earlier in the round, again for headbutts, and ultimately had a point deducted for a headbutt, low blow combination towards the end of the round.
Soto appeared content to coast from that point onward, slipping on the ring logos several times in the tenth and not doing much of anything in the 11th. Sadly, the latter round wasn’t exactly a time capsule affair for the challenger, who performed a bit of an acting job after getting caught with a shot below the belt, though not quite where he insisted in milking more than three minutes out of the sequence.
The two combatants tried to close strong, with Soto picking up the pace but with the sequences marred by excessive clinching.
The title defense is the second for Soto, who improves to 53-7-2 (32KO).
Monterrosa has a four-fight win streak snapped as he falls to 23-2 (18KO). Both losses have occurred in his lone two bouts outside of his native Colombia.
Waiting on ice for Soto is a planned showdown with faded countryman Marco Antonio Barrera, who hardly looked impressive in his ring return earlier this year.
Top Rank has done everything in its power to have Soto avoid tough challenges (namely a long overdue mandatory with Anthony Peterson, who was ultimately steered in another direction). It might be time to fish or cut bait in terms of a Soto-Barrera fight, as neither fighter appears to have very much left beyond a head-on collision.
In the televised opener, Omar Chavez (24-0, 17KO) overcame a rocky start to rally back and stop Rodrigo Juarez (15-12-1, 11KO) at 2:47 of the fourth round. A right hand drilled the journeyman, putting him flat on his back to end the fight.
The win is a bit of closure for Chavez, who struggled to a split decision win over Juarez this past May. Saturday’s win closes the book on this chapter, with the younger fighting son of the legendary Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. now able to move on with his career.
The show was presented by Top Rank Inc and aired live on Fox Sports Espanol.
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 .
