JORGE ARCE vs FERNANDO LUMACAD

Ever-popular Jorge Arce returns after last November’s pounding by Vic Darchinyan with a much less-demanding 12-rounder against Filipino Fernando Lumacad on Top Rank’s Latin Fury 9 PPV show in Atlantic City on Saturday.

It will be interesting to see how much Arce has left at 29, and after so many hard fights. Although he was brave and willing against Darchinyan he took a lot of punishment and looked just about all-in after 11 rounds. A cut over Arce’s eye gave the ringside doctor a good reason to recommend that the fight be stopped, because I think the 12th would have been a brutally hard round for Arce and I suspect that everyone at ringside knew it.

That, though, was against Darchinyan, one of the strongest and heaviest handed fighters in the lighter weight classes.

On Saturday, Arce is meeting a naturally smaller and much less experienced boxer who does not appear to be a very hard hitter — Lumacad has stopped only one opponent in his last 12 fights.

The Lumacad camp sees this as a great chance for the little-known Filipino, with his American manager Ken Smith asserting that Arce is past his best. Naturally, Arce will want to show he has some good fights left in him.

Arce had a nice run going of five consecutive wins before meeting Darchinyan, which included a thriller with the Panamanian Rafael Concepcion when he weathered a shaky moment early on and came back to overpower his less experienced opponent in eight exciting rounds. It is fights such as this make Arce such a fan favourite — hit or be hit.

As I haven’t seen Lumacad I don’t know what sort of style he will bring to the fight, but as he is moving up from flyweight to meet Arce in the super flyweight division it is likely that he will at a strength disadvantage, and the Mexican crowd pleaser would seem to be much the harder puncher.

Lumacad has lost only one fight, which was against a former world champ, Wandee Singwancha, in Bangkok, and he was competitive against the veteran Thai. Wandee, however, is a technician who has never been much of a puncher (12 stoppage wins in 69 fights), and the Thai started boxing in the 105-pound division. When Lumacad steps into the ring against Arce he will be up against the biggest, strongest, heaviest punching fighter he will ever have faced.

This bout is something new for Arce, his first appearance on the U.S. East Coast although he has boxed often in the sunbelt states in the Southwest. The fans in attendance in Atlantic City will no doubt have high expectations, and I don’t think Arce will disappoint them because even when he has lost he has always given value for money.

It seems to me that Arce will be simply too big, too seasoned and far too strong for Lumacad. I believe that the Filipino will put up a spirited fight, and I am not expecting a quick win for Arce. I do think, though, that Arce’s pressure and body punching will start to take effect by the middle part of the fight, and I can see him overwhelming Lumacad around the ninth round.