A huge underdog, Arce pulled off a thrilling KO victory in the 11th round over then-undefeated Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. last May, winning his third world division title (the WBO super bantamweight belt- and yes, “interim” titles shouldn’t count).
An old-school fighter, Arce does not sit on the sidelines as most world champions do nowadays, fighting at least three times a year since 2002. He went on to stop Simphiwe Nongqayi in a rematch and finished up 2011 by relinquishing the WBO 122 pound title, going on to win the vacant WBO bantamweight strap via unanimous decision in a rematch against Angky Angkota last November. This made Arce a legit four-division champion (Erik Morales beat him to the distinction in his super lightweight title win last year).
No stranger to rematches, Arce begins 2012 with another one. This time he faces Lorenzo Parra, 31-3-1 (18), in a non-title, 10-round bout at the Palenque del FEX in Mexicali tonight.
Arce and Venezuela’s Parra locked horns in a September 2010 super bantamweight eliminator with the fight ending in a split draw.
Parra, a former WBA flyweight world champion defeated Eric Morel back in 2003, defending the title five times before losing it to Takefumi Sakata in a rematch four years later.
Parra failed in his bid for the WBA super bantamweight title against Celestino Caballero in 2008, battled Arce to the draw in 2009 and lost via TKO in the eighth round against Anselmo Moreno for the WBA super bantamweight title in his last outing last year.
Jorge Paez Jr., 30-4-1 (18) whose career had stalled badly over the last few years, got a big jumpstart as the son of “Maromero” defeated a very faded Jose Luis Castillo last year and handed Omar Chavez (Julio Cesar Chavez’s younger son) his first official defeat via majority decision last December.
Paez, whose career began as a featherweight back in 2005, is now campaigning as a welterweight and will be taking on Hector Velasquez, 51-17-3 (35), and should beat him as Velazquez failed when stepping up against the likes of Mickey Bey, Rocky Juarez, Guty Espadas Jr., Robbie Peden, Israel Vazquez and one Manny Pacquiao.
As is the case for U.S. viewers, look for the fights to be televised either on TV Azteca or Fox Sports Net/Fox Deportes, barring broadcast or scheduling complications.
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