Southern California rocked again with another night of boxing in a battle for the WBA, WBC and IBF super flyweight titles at the Honda Center, Anaheim, Calf. Vic Darchinyan found someone willing to trade heavy artillery though he couldn’t crack the will of Jorge “Travieso” Arce, Darchinyan found other ways to be victorious. The crowd pleasing Jorge Arce bravely trudged forward, trying to give the 5,450 fans their monies worth, but at the end Arce finally got a break after the 11th round when ringside physician Paul Wallace didn’t like the looks of a gnarly cut Darchinyan had opened around Arce’s right eye and recommended to referee Lou Moret that the fight be stopped.
“I wanted to continue fighting,” Arce said at the post-fight press conference. “I don’t know why they stopped the fight. I’m a puncher. I always have a puncher’s chance.”
Arce (51-5-1, 39 KOs) talked to media briefly before being taken to the hospital for stitches and a MRI scan, apparently Arce was complaining about pain in the back of his head.
“I think everyone knew I wanted to continue, it does upset me. Just one more minute, that’s all I needed.”
“Overall I think the fight was competitive, maybe in the future I may want a rematch, but Darchinyan is a strong guy, nothing against him.”
Vic Darchinyan (32-1-1, 26 KOs) led by a large margin on all three score cards when the fight was stopped. All three judges had it scored 109-100, giving Darchinyan 10 of the 11 rounds.
“I didn’t expect this kind of fight,” Darchinyan approached the media. “But Arce is tough and a good fighter. I hit him with some good shots and he kept coming back. I would have liked to knock him out cold, but it’s OK. I’m happy.”
“I think he wanted the knockout too much,” Gary Shaw said. “I think he really wanted to hurt Arce, and in trying to force the knockout he made it a longer fight than it would have been had he taken his time.”
“At some point, you have to ask, ‘What’s the point?’ ” Shaw stated.
“I wasn’t concerned about the punches he was taking, though I will admit he clearly lost the fight,” Bob Arum said of Arce. “He doesn’t know how to fight a left-hander. He didn’t do well with Cristian Mijares, and he didn’t do well here either.”
“He hurt me with some good punches but I always came back,” Darchinyan said. “He proved to me he was tough and a good fighter.”
“Now I will talk to my team and my promoter to see who’s next.”
All Photos by Raymond Rodriguez
