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Doug Fischer

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Arce Chases Ler to Unanimous Decision, Pavlik Punishes Zertuche in a Thriller
By Doug Fischer (Jan 28, 2007) Photo © German Villasenor

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ANAHEIM – Who would have thought Jorge Arce’s “ride-in” would be the most entertaining part of his “fight” with Argentina’s quirky jerky Julio Ler in front of 7,091 fans at the Honda Center Saturday night?

Arce galloped to the ring on horseback to the thunderous cheers of his fans, and then his opponent galloped around the ring for most of the monotonous 12 rounds turning those cheers into jeers.

Coming into the fight, which Arce won by lop-sided scores of 117-109 and 117-110 (twice), nothing was known about Ler. Now we know why he was such a secret. His strut-mug-and cover-up style is beyond stinky. Ler tried to employ a rope-a-dope routine on Arce with no real intention of trying to win the fight, which frustrated the mostly Mexican crowd to tears after they were thrilled by the savage middleweight co-feature to the HBO “Boxing After Dark”-televised show.

Arce, 45-3-1 (34), is usually the epitome of savagery in the ring but he needs a willing opponent. Ler was only willing to stay on his feet to annoy his Mexican antagonist.

Ler was durable but unwilling to plant his feet and fire back. He was either running half way around the ring with his hands down or covering up with his back to the ropes. While Ler was in this defensive shell, Arce would jump on him like a trained attack dog but the Argentine would not punch back while Arce got off with blazing combinations that were mostly blocked with his forearms, shoulders and elbows.

Ler would wait for the punches to stop for just a second and then throw one punch and jump out of harms way, lowering his hands and giving Arce a dirty look or comment as he backpedaled to the other side of the ring.

Through the first four rounds, Ler invited Arce to come in and land his best shots and the Los Mochis native did just that. He wailed away with abandon as Ler did his strange little dance and strut around the ring. Ler’s durability but lack of machismo and punch output clearly irked Arce who thrives on adrenalin and competition.

In rounds five and six, Ler actually threw a few punches back when he was pressed to the ropes. He also let out primal scream or two to fire himself up as Arce teed off on him, but the popular Mexican brawler walked back to his corner looking a little tuckered out and very frustrated.

In rounds seven and eight, Arce continued to attack with abandon when a more measured approach would have probably served him better. A jab and well-place uppercuts would have done more to help Arce break through Ler’s defensive shell than the non-stop left-rights that landed on the Argentine’s gloves.

By the ninth and 10th rounds, Arce was visibly tired and Ler made the most of the opportunity by actually charging forward with one-two combinations. But he got a little too big for his britches in the 11th and got caught and wobbled with an Arce left hook, but the crafty Ler escaped extra punishment by playing up a hip shot and limping around the ring in exaggerated fashion.

Credit has to go to Arce for trying his best to knock Ler out in the final round, but all he got for his efforts on this night was a 12-round workout.

Hopefully real 115-pound fighters are in Arce’s future because the tiny mite is one of the most entertaining boxers in the sport. World title holders Cristian Mijares and Fernando Montiel, former titlists Martin Castillo and Alexander Munoz, and 2000 U.S. Olympian Jose Navarro are a few names who would make for real fights with a real fighter.

In the co-featured bout of the evening, undefeated middleweight contender Kelly Pavlik improved to 30-0 (27) and gained no. 1 contender status in the WBC’s 160-pound rankings with a brutal, breathtaking knockout of the ultra-durable Jose Luis Zertuche, courtesy of a short right cross and unnecessary follow-up left hook that had the rugged Mexican out before he hit the ground, causing referee Raul Caiz Sr. to literally jump in and stop the contest at 1:40 of the eighth.

It was the best performance of Pavlik’s six-and-half year pro career. The 24-year-old Youngstown, Ohio native exhibited an awesome offensive arsenal that was backed up with tight technique and tempered with a veteran’s patience and poise. In a nutshell, Pavlik looks like a nightmarish opponent for any of the top middleweights in the world, and that includes (in this fight scribe’s opinion) champion Jermain Taylor, title holder Arthur Abraham, and contenders like Edison Miranda.

In the first round, the 6-foot-4 Pavlik took his time and measured Zertuche with his long left hand before dropping hard one-two combinations and lead thudding right hands. Pavlik coolly blocked most of Zertuche’s looping hooks and landed a few short ones of his own just before the bell.

In the second round, Pavlik’s jab kept Zertuche at arms length and back on his heels, but the native of Guanajuato, Mexico doggedly bulled his way inside Pavlik’s reach and got in one hook, sending the pro-Mexico crowd into a frenzy. However, Pavlik kept his composure and soon had Zertuche backing into a corner and at the end of one-two combinations. Pavlik’s jab was on point in this round, but Zertuche found moments in which to get off on the giant middleweight, who covering up under the wild punches and later zeroed in with a series of straight rights and hooks.

Zertuche started the third round with a series of rights of his own that caused Pavlik to cover up, stumble back a bit, and later grab and hold on to disrupt the Mexican’s flow. After Zertuche’s volley the two middleweights took turns landing nasty hooks and uppercuts on each other – non-stop fiery exchanges that drove the crowd crazy with blood lust. Pavlik got the last hard shot in what was a Round of the Year candidate – a lead right that landed just before the bell – but the Ohioan sported a mean looking mouse under his right eye as he made his way back to his corner.

Through rounds four through seven, Pavlik landed thunderous blows that Zertuche amazingly absorbed. The smallish Mexican took flush power punches that would have stretched most middleweight contenders. In the fifth round, Pavlik put together three- and four-punch combinations that would have brought down a cruiserweight, but Zertuche somehow stayed on his feet and even smiled after some of the harder shots. Caiz Sr. kept a close eye on Zertuche, who generally got his hands moving in the final minute of each round, but was looking more and more like a beaten man as the fight moved into the late rounds.

Only pride got Zertuche, now 19-4-2 (14), off of his stool for the eighth round, but necessity made him backpedal for most of it. P stalked behind a punishing jab and high guard until he landed the right cross brought the fight to a merciful end.

UNDERCARD

Junior middleweight prospect Vanes Martirosyan improved to 12-0 (8) with a second-round stoppage of Texas-based journeyman Tarzone Washington.

Martirosyan started the scheduled eight-round bout aggressive as usual, concentrating on punishing Washington’s long torso with lightening quick body shots. Washington, a Dallas resident who had former welterweight champ Curtis Cokes in his corner, covered up under Martirosyan’s attack and looked to counter with left hooks.

One or two of those counter hooks got through Martirosyan’s guard causing 2004 U.S. Olympian from Glendale (by way of Armenia) to back off and think more before letting his fast hands go. For the rest of the first round, Martirosyan stayed outside of Washington’s reach until he saw openings for crisp body-head combinations that he landed with speed and accuracy.

Martirosyan controlled the pace and tempo of the fight in the second round as Washington, who dropped to 9-6 (8), did not let his hands go enough to present the popular 20-year-old boxer-puncher with a suitable challenge. Washington didn’t get a chance to increase his punch output because an uppercut-hook combination from Martirosyan put him down for the count at 2:22 of the second round.

Lanky lightweight prospect John Molina improved to 6-0 (5) with an impressive one-round beatdown of Rudy Paz, sending the Houstonian to the canvas three times in less than two minutes of action.

At the sound of the bell, Paz, now 2-5-1 (2), stormed out of his corner hoping to catch the popular Covina resident by surprise but the former high school wrestling standout kept his cool and was soon measuring Paz for frightening power shots. Paz was dropped twice in the span of about of a minute from hard hooks and right hands from the 5-foot-10 Molina. Another hook-cross-hook combination put Paz down for the third and final time as referee Jack Reiss stopped the bout at 1:59 of the opening round.

Jorge Arce’s little brother Francisco Arce, a Southern California-based flyweight prospect, improved to 24-3-1 (13) stopped game Luis Doria after three rounds of a scheduled six-round contest.

The second fight of the six-bout card featured non-stop punching (and catching) from both little guys, but Arce landed the cleaner punches throughout. A big left hook in the middle of the third round staggered Doria, now 20-16-1 (13), and dropped the rugged Colombian along the ropes but the gutsy little journeyman sprung back throwing punches despite being on wobbly legs; the two traded with abandon to the delight of the crowd, but Arce continued to land flush power punches that eventually deposited Doria to the canvass. Luis got up at the referee’s count of six but continued to take a beating until another knockdown (of the technical variety, his glove touched the canvass) just before the bell.

The ringside physician visited Doria’s corner in-between rounds and suggested the beating to end; Doria’s cornermen were merciful and took the advice.

In the opening bout of the evening, Jeff Fenech-trained Russian KO Artist Victor Oganov improved to 26-0 (26) with a second-round stoppage of veteran journeyman Richard Grant, whose record fell to 20-16-1 (13). Grant was never off his feet and managed to bloody Oganov’s nose by the end of the first round, but the Brooklynite was taking too many hard shots from the Russian for the referee’s liking and the fight was stopped 2 minutes into the second round.