By Jhonny Gonzalez
At the Palenque de la Feria in Durango, Mexico, former champion Cristian Mijares won a twelve round split decision over Francisco "Panchito" Arce in a close fight. The rounds were tight with Mijares boxing and Arce throwing the harder and more effective punches. Looking to avenge his brother Jorge Arce, who Mijares beat in 2007, the younger Arce put the pressure on in the sixth round.
Because it was a WBC bantamweight eliminator for a higher ranking, the scores were announced after eight rounds and Arce was leading on two cards. Mijares had a good final round and Arce lost a point for what appeared to be an illegal punch but it was never announced to the crowd on why the point was taken away. There seemed to be some confusion on the exact final scores when the contest was over.
