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By Dan Rafael
ESPN.com
When Top Rank's Bob Arum held a breakfast news conference on Feb. 16 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas to announce a pair of "Latin Fury" pay-per-view cards, the exciting and charismatic Jorge Arce was in the house.
One of the fights Arum announced was Arce's junior bantamweight eliminator against Thailand's Devid Lookmahanak, which will headline Top Rank's May 17 PPV card from Mexico.
At that breakfast, Arce spent more time throwing down a challenge to junior featherweight champ Israel Vazquez than he did talking about his immediate opponent.
"I'd love to challenge Israel Vazquez at 122 pounds at the end of the year," said the smiling Arce, who has fought some of his recent matches in the 118-pound bantamweight division. "I'm willing to move up and fight him in November. It would be a big fight, well promoted and we could draw a big crowd to the Staples Center [in Los Angeles]."
Two weeks after that breakfast, Vazquez retained the championship with a split decision against rival Rafael Marquez in their fierce rubber match, the leading fight of the year candidate.
Since Vazquez's stirring victory against Marquez, there has been much written and discussed about a possible fourth fight between them. That's a fight I'd love to see at some point. I think most boxing fans would also love to see it again.
But Vazquez isn't necessarily going to just jump back into another fight with Marquez right away, nor should he. They've waged three consecutive wars against each other. Vazquez -- and Marquez, for that matter -- deserve a break from each other for at least one fight.
Arce obviously is interested in the fight. And his handlers, Top Rank and Mexican promoter Fernando Beltran, have also told me they are open to the fight, which would make for a prime "Boxing After Dark" main event on HBO, a Showtime main event or even a "Latin Fury" pay-per-view headliner.
The other night when I called Frank Espinoza to get some quotes for a story I was writing about the retirement of Martin Castillo, one of Espinoza's fighters, I asked him about Vazquez, whom he also manages.
He was certainly interested in an Arce fight.
"It's very intriguing," Espinoza said. "He's popular. It's a money fight. It could be an interesting fight for us to look at. Israel is in a good position. Let's see what happens. If the money is right, why not?"
Espinoza's perspective is that a fourth fight with Marquez will always be there, so why rush into it after three consecutive brutal battles?
"The Marquez fight is always going to be there," he said. "Fans want to see that fight again, but you don't have to go right back into it. These guys have been in three very tough fights in a row. I want to do the right thing for Israel."
Espinoza said although the fourth fight has been mentioned, there has been no serious discussion other than Vazquez's promoter, Sycuan Ringside Promotions, telling him it was just one possibility for Vazquez's fall return.
Another fight that has been mentioned was for Vazquez to move up to 130 pounds and face former champ Marco Antonio Barrera, who wants to continue fighting after having a change of heart about retirement following his loss last fall to Manny Pacquiao.
Espinoza, however, told me that is not a fight they are interested in.
"Barrera is too heavy," he said. "We have no plans to do a fight like that. We'll think about a fourth fight with Marquez but we'd also like to talk more about fighting Arce."
ESPN.com
When Top Rank's Bob Arum held a breakfast news conference on Feb. 16 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas to announce a pair of "Latin Fury" pay-per-view cards, the exciting and charismatic Jorge Arce was in the house.
One of the fights Arum announced was Arce's junior bantamweight eliminator against Thailand's Devid Lookmahanak, which will headline Top Rank's May 17 PPV card from Mexico.
At that breakfast, Arce spent more time throwing down a challenge to junior featherweight champ Israel Vazquez than he did talking about his immediate opponent.
"I'd love to challenge Israel Vazquez at 122 pounds at the end of the year," said the smiling Arce, who has fought some of his recent matches in the 118-pound bantamweight division. "I'm willing to move up and fight him in November. It would be a big fight, well promoted and we could draw a big crowd to the Staples Center [in Los Angeles]."
Two weeks after that breakfast, Vazquez retained the championship with a split decision against rival Rafael Marquez in their fierce rubber match, the leading fight of the year candidate.
Since Vazquez's stirring victory against Marquez, there has been much written and discussed about a possible fourth fight between them. That's a fight I'd love to see at some point. I think most boxing fans would also love to see it again.
But Vazquez isn't necessarily going to just jump back into another fight with Marquez right away, nor should he. They've waged three consecutive wars against each other. Vazquez -- and Marquez, for that matter -- deserve a break from each other for at least one fight.
Arce obviously is interested in the fight. And his handlers, Top Rank and Mexican promoter Fernando Beltran, have also told me they are open to the fight, which would make for a prime "Boxing After Dark" main event on HBO, a Showtime main event or even a "Latin Fury" pay-per-view headliner.
The other night when I called Frank Espinoza to get some quotes for a story I was writing about the retirement of Martin Castillo, one of Espinoza's fighters, I asked him about Vazquez, whom he also manages.
He was certainly interested in an Arce fight.
"It's very intriguing," Espinoza said. "He's popular. It's a money fight. It could be an interesting fight for us to look at. Israel is in a good position. Let's see what happens. If the money is right, why not?"
Espinoza's perspective is that a fourth fight with Marquez will always be there, so why rush into it after three consecutive brutal battles?
"The Marquez fight is always going to be there," he said. "Fans want to see that fight again, but you don't have to go right back into it. These guys have been in three very tough fights in a row. I want to do the right thing for Israel."
Espinoza said although the fourth fight has been mentioned, there has been no serious discussion other than Vazquez's promoter, Sycuan Ringside Promotions, telling him it was just one possibility for Vazquez's fall return.
Another fight that has been mentioned was for Vazquez to move up to 130 pounds and face former champ Marco Antonio Barrera, who wants to continue fighting after having a change of heart about retirement following his loss last fall to Manny Pacquiao.
Espinoza, however, told me that is not a fight they are interested in.
"Barrera is too heavy," he said. "We have no plans to do a fight like that. We'll think about a fourth fight with Marquez but we'd also like to talk more about fighting Arce."
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