JORGE ARCE vs ANGKY ANGKOTA

With time running out on his career, Jorge Arce gets what surely will be his last chance to win a world title when he meets the Indonesian, Angky Angkota, in Mexico City on Saturday night, the second in the Top Rank Live! series that is shown on Fox Sports Espanol and various Fox regional networks.

The bout is for the vacant WBO junior bantam title. You could say that Arce is being rewarded for services rendered — he has been one of the game’s top crowd pleasers of recent years. How does Angkota qualify for a title fight, though? Well, he does have wins over Filipinos Donnie Nietes (currently the WBO 105-pound champion) and Sonny Boy Jaro, a two-time world title challenger in the light-flyweight division, and he has won 11 of his last 12 bouts. This includes two victories in bouts that went the full 12-round championship distance. One of these wins was in Australia, admittedly against an obscure opponent. At least Angkota has some experience of long fights and he has demonstrated he can win away from home.

So, Angkota is not entirely without credentials. However, looking closely at this contest one must conclude that this a fight that has been made for Arce to win.

The multi-tattooed Angkota has boxed most of his career in the light-flyweight and flyweight divisions. Arce looks significantly the bigger, stronger man. Angkota’s wins over Nietes and Jaro were more than four years ago. Lately he has been meeting an extremely low calibre of opponent. In his last defeat, three years ago, Angkota was well beaten on points by A.J. Banal in the Philippines. Grainy footage of that bout reveals Angkota to be an aggressive, free-swinging type of fighter without a great deal of skill although, in the earlier rounds at least, he tried to make himself a difficult target by moving his body from side to side as he came forward. Banal, though, was hitting him quite freely in the later rounds, when Angkota seemed to be troubled by body blows although he defiantly made “hit me again” gestures.

Based on the Banal fight, Angkota looked the sort of fighter who in the 1950s would have been called a “willing mixer” — a fighter who will move in and trade punches. This style of fighter should suit Arce. At this stage of his career, the colourful “Travieso” doesn’t need to be in with smart, sharp boxers who can muddle him with movement. What Arce needs is someone who will be right in front of him — and in this respect Angkota would seem to fill the bill. It doesn’t hurt, either, that Angkota is naturally the smaller man.

So, this is a fight that Arce should win, although it must be said that he looked dreadful in his last fight, when he was soundly beaten on points by Simphiwe Nongqayi last September. Arce looked like a burnt-out fighter. He was cut over both eyes, missed clumsily and couldn’t get out of the way of punches. I made the note that it was “painful to watch” — unless one was a Nongqayi backer, that is.

In Arce’s defence, the ring was soaked with water and Arce couldn’t get traction for his heavy punches — his feet constantly seemed to be sliding away. Nongqayi was boxing under the same conditions, of course, but with his measured, intelligent, precise boxing style he wasn’t as badly affected. Probably Arce would have lost that fight under any circumstances, but the slippery canvas was something of a mitigating factor.

Now Arce, at 30, and after a 14-year career, is giving the game a final whirl. He has told the Mexican media that this will be his last year as a boxer: he is set to become a commentator on TV Azteca’s boxing shows. One gets uneasy when a fighter mentions that retirement is close at hand, but Arce does seem to be taking this fight seriously. Arce is a proud man and doesn’t want to leave boxing as a loser; part of his training was in the Otomi mountains south of Mexico City. I am sure he will be has ready as he can be for this fight.

As vulnerable as he looked in his last fight, I do think that Arce, even in his diminished state as a fighter, will have too much for the likes of Angkota. His promoters have done their part by bringing in an opponent who is physically smaller, who shouldn’t be too hard to find and who is far from his home in Southeast Asia. Now it is up to Arce to get the job done. I think he will, not easily, but by outlasting, outpunching and eventually overpowering Angkota — maybe in nine rounds.