Jorge Arce Settles Score With Angkotta, Grabs WBO Title

By Jake Donovan

Move over, Erik Morales. You now have company.

Two months after watching his countryman become Mexico’s first ever fighter to capture alphabet hardware in four weight classes, Jorge Arce matched the feat on Saturday evening with a 12-round points win over Angky Angkotta in their Fox Deportes-televised main event at Plaza de Toros Rea in Mazatlan, Mexico.

Both fighters came in at the bantamweight limit of 118 lb.

Truly second to none in character, Arce – a former reality star – came into the ring singing alongside the band providing his theme music. Once the opening bell rang, it was anything but sweet music from Arce, who had his hands full with his familiar foe.

The heavily-tattooed Angkotta came out banging from the moment he left his stool, charging at Arce who was clearly uncomfortable being forced to back up.

Arce turned up the aggression in the second round, but not necessarily in a good way as he was warned for low blows. Angkotta continued to come forward and pressure the hometown favorite, determined to prove there was unfinished business left behind from their first fight.

His desire proved to be his strength early on but a devastating vulnerability in the third. Arce unloaded in the first half of the round, twice rocking Angkotta along the ropes to where the Indonesian looked around in the crowd as if to figure out where the hell he was. He caught a huge break when Arce appeared to punch himself out late in the round, though it merely meant surviving the round.

Angkotta came roaring back midway through, but could never quite surge ahead as Arce applied just enough pressure to maintain what proved to be a surprisingly large lead. Anxious moments came late in the fight, when Angkotta found success fighting out of the southpaw stance, but effective clinching enabled Arce to avoid trouble while looking to capture his second wind.

That moment came in a hellacious 11th round, which saw the free-swinging Mexican enjoy his best rally since early in the fight. A swarm over power punches kept Angkotta pinned along the ropes for much of the round, though escaping in time to turn the fight into a two-way street brawl down the stretch.

Things grew interesting in the 12th round, as Arce did more clinching that punching while Angkotta danced as hard as he could to prevent the bout from seeing the final bell. A headbutt similar to what ended their first fight nearly two years ago surfaced midway through the round, leaving Angkotta cut and dazed, but the fight continued on until the final bell.

Once the first scorecard was announced, Angkotta shook his head in disgust, knowing that he had no shot. He was right, as surprisingly (relatively speaking) wide scores of 118-110 (twice) and 117-111 were announced for Arce, who is now a recognized-four-division champion.

Some will argue that he is the most belted fighter in Mexican history, but his interim status at 112 lb. served as the motivation for this fight.

Arce is now unbeaten in his past eight bouts as he improves to 59-6-2 (45KO). The win is his second decision in as many tries against Angkotta, who falls to 25-6 (14KO).

Chances are that Arce’s stay as a bantamweight titlist won’t be for very long. His plan from the moment he gave up his 122 lb. belt was to move back up in weight and attempt to reclaim it once a planned showdown between Wilfredo Vazquez Jr – whom Arce defeated earlier this year in a shocking 12th round knockout – and pound-for-pound entrant Nonito Donaire is officially in the books.

Between now and then, he can rest at home and take comfort in knowing that his list of accomplishments has caught up to his popularity.

In the evening’s televised co-feature, Juan Alberto Rosas gets a crack at the 115 lb. belt he once held after outpointing Zolani Tete of South Africa.

Scores were 113-113 and 115-112 (twice) in a bout that featured plenty of action.

Rosas was the aggressor throughout the bout, though at times struggled with the fleet-footed Tete, who was successful in popping his jab from the outside. Rosas turned up the heat in the middle rounds, proving to be an effective means of cutting off the ring as Tete ran out of places to backpedal.

The win marks four straight for Rosas, who improves to 36-6 (27KO) just two days shy of his 27th birthday. A fitting birthday wish comes in the form of a future title shot against Rodrigo Guerrero, for the very belt he conceded to Cristian Mijares less than a year ago.

Tete falls to 15-2-1 (13KO) in losing his first fight outside of his native South Africa. His lone other loss came in a failed title bid against countryman Moruti Mthalane last September.

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com. Follow Jake on Twitter at twitter.com/JakeNDaBox or submit questions/comments to JakeNDaBox@gmail.com .