by Cliff Rold
He may not go down as a capital “G” great fighter, but Jr. Featherweight titlist Jorge Arce is hard not to feel great about as a fight lover. Over a long career, Arce has been a thrill ride with some big times wins and losses to some of the finest names among the lower weight classes in now three decades.
Boxing fans owe a tip of the cap for all the blood Mexico’s Arce (58-6-2, 45 KO) has spilled. They also owe a hearty acknowledgement as Arce pulled something off on Saturday he never had before.
Revenge.
Dating back to his pro debut in 1996, Arce had suffered defeats to six men and none had ever seen the favor returned. Omar Nino came early in both men’s tenures and just didn’t come up again and the same could be said of Victor Burgos (both foes going on to win belts of their own). Michael Carbajal retired after their epic clash. Cristian Mijares and Vic Darchinyan were just so much better that a rematch wasn’t necessary.
Simphiwe Nongqayi was the lone name left and, fighting two classes higher than the first time around, could do nothing to keep the stronger man off of him. In the game of wins and losses, few ever get all of the ones in the left hand column back.
But it’s nice to get at least one.
It was a solid highlight in a slow week before what promises to be, globally, one of the busiest weeks of boxing in 2011.
Ratings Update
Heavyweight: While victorious over the weekend, a close look at the inactivity and weakness of competition present on the ledger of Denis Boytsov over the last couple years merits a bump down in the ratings.
Jr. Welterweight: Given the excellence of his performance against Devon Alexander in 2010, Andriy Kotelnik remained rated beyond a year’s inactivity. With still nothing scheduled, he is removed. Everyone below the #3 spot he occupied gets a bump and former titlist Kendall Holt re-enters the ratings.
Jr. Bantamweight: Following the nasty loss at 122 lbs, and nothing of note at 115 in a while, Nongqayi exits the top ten.
These results and more are reflected a page away.
Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel, the Yahoo Pound for Pound voting panel, and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com