Jorge Arce vs. William Prado on November 16th

By Boxing News - 11/06/2013 - Comments

arce22By Dan Ambrose: Former four division world champion Jorge Arce (61-7-2, 46 KO’s) will be coming out of his 1-year retirement to face William Prado (21-4-1, 14 KO’s) on November 16th in a scheduled 10 round bout, according to ESPN. Arce, 34, wants to attempt to capture a world title at featherweight and he’s targeting featherweight champions Jhonny Gonzalez and Orlando Salido as the guys he wants to fight.

Arce retired last year after being blown out in 3 rounds by Nonito Donaire on December 15th in a fight that saw Arce hit the deck three times before it was finally halted n the 3rd.

Arce said via ESPN “It took me a long time to analyze the situation. I feel that my body is still responding well and with the support of my family and my promoter, I have decided to give it one more chance.”

Arce started his career out as a light flyweight and he’s small for even the super bantamweight division. For Arce to be moving up to fight guys like the 5’6″ Salido and Jhonny Gonzalez, it doesn’t seem likely that Arce will find the kind of success that he’s hoping to.

At this point you’ve got to hope that Arce can even beat a fighter like Prado, because it’s been about a year since Arce last fought and he didn’t look good in losing to Donaire. Prado, 29, has lost three out of his last five fights with defeats against Jeremy Parodi, Scott Quigg and Paulus Ambunda. However, Prado is a decent fighter with good power and excellent skills. He’s been active throughout his career, and he’s not coming off of a 1-year layoff like Arce is.

Arce pretty much has lost two out of his last three fights, because the no contest that he got against Jesus M Rojas last year looked more like a loss for Arce than a no contest. Arce started taking punishment against the younger, stronger and naturally bigger Rojas in the 2nd round of that fight, and then Arce hit the deck after Rojas hit him on the ear, back and with a low blow. Arce complained that his ear was hurting and the fight was halted. But it looked like Rojas was getting to him, and the shot on the side of the head arguably should have been a valid punch that resulted in a knockout.

The odds of Arce beating Salido or Gonzalez are pretty much zero. Even Donaire will be lucky if he can beat either of those guys, because his normal size advantage that he’s had against the smaller fighters in the flyweight, bantamweight and super bantamweight divisions will be nonexistent against Salido and Gonzalez. Donaire would have to figure out another way of winning because he wouldn’t be able to tower over them.

If Arce is coming back to try and get a big payday against Salido or Gonzalez, then it’s understandable why he would want to fight them, but if he thinks he’s going to beat either of them then he’s sadly mistaken. At this point, Arce would be lucky if he can beat any of the top 15 contenders in the featherweight division.



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