Originally Published: September 17, 2007
Scorecard: Arce bodyshot deflates Rojas
By knocking out perennial contender Vivian Harris, Junior Witter made a chilling statement to Ricky Hatton, as well as the entire junior welterweight division, writes Dan Rafael.
A roundup of last week's notable boxing results from around the world:
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Jorge Arce TKO6 Tomas Rojas |
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Records: Arce, 47-4-1, 36 KOs; Rojas, 25-9, 17 KOs |
| Rafael's remark: After the fight Arce said, "I will never fight a left-hander again. I don't care what the promoters say." That is probably a smart move. This past April, junior bantamweight titlist Cristian Mijares, a southpaw, slapped Arce all over the ring on his way to a dominant decision to retain his belt. In his comeback fight on Mexican Independence Day, Arce moved up to bantamweight and faced his countryman Rojas, another difficult southpaw who happens to also have a decision loss to Mijares on his record. Rojas was cleaning Arce's clock in an action fight and was in total command on the scorecards -- 50-45 (twice) and 48-47 -- going into the sixth round. That is when Arce, a former junior flyweight titlist, made a big comeback. He landed a left hook to the body to drop Rojas, who barely beat the count. During Arce's follow-up assault, Rojas was in trouble and referee Joe Cortez stepped in and stopped the fight. Although Arce got the win, it was a hard night at the office and showed again how vulnerable, and exciting, he is. Arce may return to junior bantamweight for his next bout, which could come Nov. 10 against former junior bantamweight beltholder Martin Castillo on the Miguel Cotto-Shane Mosley HBO PPV undercard. Castillo's manager, Frank Espinosa, was watching at ringside, according to promoter Top Rank. Many fans have been drooling for an Arce-Castillo fight. It would be terrific. |
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Edgar Sosa TKO9 Lorenzo Trejo Retains a junior flyweight title. |
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Records: Sosa, 29-5, 15 KOs; Trejo, 30-16, 5 KOs |
| Rafael's remark: Sosa has been busy. He made the second defense of the vacant 108-pound belt he won via decision against Brian Viloria in April by dominating Trejo, his Mexican countryman. Sosa started a little slowly but took over as the fight moved along until finally pinning Trejo along the ropes and firing shot after shot causing referee Tony Weeks to stop the bout. It's been a pretty nice weekend for Sosa, who became the father of a boy on Friday night, which was probably better than the original due date -- Sunday. |
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Argenis Mendez W6 Guadalupe Guzman Scores: 60-54, 59-55 (twice) |
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Records: Mendez, 8-0, 6 KOs; Guzman, 3-2, 2 KOs |
| Rafael's remark: Mendez, a 21-year-old native of the Dominican Republic, is one of Top Rank's brightest prospects and the promotional company is keeping him busy. This was his third fight in two months and Mendez won it with ease, notching a near-sweep of every round. |
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Jorge Paez Jr. W6 Alain Hernandez Scores: 60-54, 59-55, 58-56 |
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Records: Paez Jr., 17-1, 10 KOs; Hernandez, 9-6-1, 6 KOs |
| Rafael's remark: Paez Jr., the son of former featherweight titlist Jorge Paez Sr., won a convincing decision against Hernandez, who dropped his second in a row. At least this time he saw the final bell; Hernandez was knocked out in his previous fight. Paez, who won his fourth straight, is still trying to put his career back together after suffering a shocking fourth-round TKO loss in March. |
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Johnnie Edwards W-DQ6 Freddie Norwood |
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Records: Edwards, 13-1-1, 7 KOs; Norwood, 41-2-1, 22 KOs |
| Rafael's remark: In an upset, Edwards got the victory when Norwood, a former two-time featherweight titleholder, was disqualified in the sixth round for excessive low blows in an untelevised fight at the boxing friendly Northern Quest Casino. Norwood was ahead on the three scorecards -- 48-47 (twice) and 48-46 -- when he was disqualified after throwing one too many low blows. Norwood had nailed Edwards below the belt several times and was docked points for the infraction in the fifth and sixth rounds. He went low for a second time in the sixth and was thrown out of the fight. Norwood fought his typically dirty kind of fight. After Edwards hurt him in the first round, Norwood twice tackled him before the run of low blows started. Norwood, 37, was fighting for the fifth time since resuming his career in 2006 following his only loss to Derrick Gainer in a 2000 title fight and subsequent prison stint. Edwards, 27, might be familiar to really hardcore fans. He suffered his only defeat to prospect Elio Rojas on Showtime's "ShoBox" series in March. Norwood was originally supposed to face Shamir Reyes, but he withdrew because of a training injury a week before the bout. |
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Ray Mercer KO1 Mikael Lindblad |
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Records: Mercer, 35-6-1, 26 KOs; Lindblad, 24-6, 15 KOs |
| Rafael's remark: Mercer, the 1988 U.S. Olympic heavyweight gold medalist, knocked out Lindblad, of Sweden, in just 48 seconds. It was the first boxing match for Mercer, 46, since he was knocked out in the seventh round by Shannon Briggs in August 2005. But Mercer, who has dabbled in mix martial arts, was coming off a first-round submission to Kimbo Slice in an MMA bout in Atlantic City, N.J., in June. Mercer ended Linblad's night with an overhand right. Former heavyweight champ Riddick Bowe was slated to continue his on-and-off comeback on the card, but the fight, to nobody's surprise, was called off. |
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Omar Narvaez TKO4 Marlon Marquez Retains a flyweight title. |
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Records: Narvaez; 25-0-2, 16 KOs; Marquez, 11-3, 4 KOs |
| Rafael's remark: Fighting in front of a friendly home crowd, Narvaez demolished the obscure, unproven, undeserving Marquez, of Nicaragua. It was Narvaez's 11th defense, but most of them have come against similarly weak opposition. Ridiculously, the WBO approved Marquez for a title shot even though he was coming off a loss in June in a fight for a WBO regional title. Narvaez scored two knockdowns in the fourth before the one-sided affair was called off. |
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Humberto Soto TKO3 Ismael Gonzalez |
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Records: Soto, 43-5-2, 27 KOs; Gonzalez, 18-14, 7 KOs |
| Rafael's remark: Everyone can exhale now. Soto won this tune-up fight with ease, knocking Gonzalez out with a left hook and preserving a Nov. 17 showdown with junior lightweight titlist Joan Guzman on HBO's "Boxing After Dark." HBO and Top Rank were against the tune-up, but Soto and Mexican co-promoter Nacho Huizar felt he needed to stay sharp with such an important fight coming up. So Soto, who fought at 141 pounds on Friday, got in a little work before his much-anticipated match with Guzman at 130. It was the second time Soto has beaten Gonzalez, who dropped his sixth consecutive bout and eighth in his past nine fights. One of those losses was a 10th-round TKO to Soto on Dec. 10, 2004. |
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Fernando Trejo W10 Juan Ramon Cruz Scores: 97-92 (twice), 95-94 |
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Records: Trejo, 29-11-4, 17 KOs; Cruz, 15-3-1, 12 KOs |
| Rafael's remark: Trejo, who owns a 2005 10th-round TKO victory against top-10 contender Jose Armando Santa Cruz, won his third in a row with a hard-fought, entertaining victory against Cruz in the Telefutura main event. Trejo controlled the fight, but hit the deck twice courtesy of uncalled for low blows from Cruz. A blatant groin shot in the fourth round sent Trejo to the mat in agony, and he used most of his allotted recovery time. Cruz floored Trejo with another shot south of the border in the fifth, and referee Geno Rodriguez docked him a point. Trejo was warned for a low blow in the eighth round, but his was not nearly as low as the ones Cruz landed. It's a rough way to make a living, but Trejo earned this victory. |
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Jose Reyes W12 Silverio Ortiz Scores: scores: 117-111, 116-112, 115-113 |
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Records: Reyes, 21-4, 7 KOs; Ortiz, 19-11, 9 KOs |
| Rafael's remark: In the Telemundo main event, Reyes won his third consecutive fight, cruising to a decision against Ortiz, who has lost to several top opponents, including Steve Forbes, David Diaz, Mike Anchondo, Daniel Seda and Czar Amonsot. Ortiz was aggressive, but wild and not very effective with his punches. Reyes was more accurate, which is what carried him to this decision. |
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Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. TKO3 Benjamin Orozco |
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Records: Vasquez, 8-0, 7 KOs; Orozco, 3-3-3, 2 KOs |
| Rafael's remark: Vazquez Jr., whose father is one of Puerto Rico's top fighters, having won titles at bantamweight, junior featherweight and featherweight during his standout career, is trying to follow in his dad's footsteps, and he's off to a good start. The 23-year-old manhandled Orozco, 22. Vazquez badly staggered him with a flush left hook in the final 30 seconds of the second round and landed several other hard shots before the round ended. Orozco was still unsteady when the third round began and Vazquez took advantage, peppering him with punches until the referee called it off. |
Dan Rafael is the boxing writer for ESPN.com.
