By Mesuli Zifo

MEXICAN whirlwind Jorge Arce has been granted his wish to avenge his defeat by South African fighter Simpiwe Nongqayi after the deal was finally sealed for a rematch scheduled to be held at Mexicali Baja in Mexico on September 24.

Arce has been chasing a return bout against Nongqayi to reverse his shocking points defeat in September 2009 for the IBF junior bantamweight crown in Cancun Mexico.

Now reigning the roots as the WBO junior featherweight champion, Arce (57-6-2, 44 Kos) said he was still keen to face Nongqayi even though the South African had lost the IBF title to his compatriot Alberto Rosas a year later.

However Nongqayi could not secure a shot at Arce’s WBO junior featherweight title as he is not rated by the WBO in the division.

In fact Nongqayi’s last fight was the defeat by Rosas in the junior bantamweight division when he blamed his weight issues as the reason for his six round stoppage loss.

His manager Siphatho Handi said the 38-year-old would be comfortable in the junior featherweight division.

“He is very strong in the junior featherweight division and I have no doubt that he will beat Arce again,” Handi said.

Nongqayi’s promoter Branco Milenkovic said he could only secure a 10 round non title bout against Arce due to his charge’s non-ranking by the WBO.

“We would have loved to make the fight a title fight but we could not but beating Arce will speak volumes for Nongqayi even in a non-title fight,” he said.

Nongqayi’s loss to Rosas and a draw against Frenchman Malik Bouziane in his first title defence when his weight problems started to surface, are the only blemishes in his 18 fights record with six stoppages.

Arce who ironically is Nongqayi’s junior by six years is a multiple world champion and cemented his legendary status with a thrilling 12 round stoppage defeat of Wilfredo Vasquez Jnr to lift the WBO junior featherweight crown this past May.