Darchinyan brutalizes Arce, keeps title
ANAHEIM, Calif. – Vic Darchinyan did plenty of talking prior to his super flyweight title bout Saturday against Jorge Arce at the Honda Center. But Darchinyan's powerful performance exceeded his hard-edged words.
The Armenian-born Australian retained his WBA, WBC and IBF titles with one of the more impressive victories of his career, stopping the overmatched Arce at 3:00 of the 11th round in front of a loud crowd of 5,450.
Ringside physician Paul Wallace recommended to referee Lou Moret that a cut on Arce's right eye was too serious to allow him to come out for the 12th.
Darchinyan, who had been raking Arce with left uppercuts throughout, was in complete control and was never in a second of danger.
The champion for years had sought a fight with Arce, a popular one-time reality television star in Mexico, but was frustrated as circumstance and friction between promoters Gary Shaw and Bob Arum prevented it from occurring.
Darchinyan was coming off the biggest win of his career, when he stopped Cristian Mijares in the ninth round on Nov. 1 in nearby Carson, Calif., to become the first three-belt champion in the division's history.
He was hardly humble in victory and predicted a dire end for Arce.
True to his word, Darchinyan delivered a frightful beating, pummeling Arce around the ring from beginning to end of the contest. Darchinyan, who is establishing himself as one of the pound-for-pound best in the sport, was leading 109-100 on all three judges' scorecards.
The only thing Darchinyan didn't do was put Arce down. That, though, was largely because of Arce's incredible chin and big heart. There were several occasions when it was almost inconceivable that Arce remained vertical.
Darchinyan, now 32-1-1 with 26 knockouts, went for the kill in the final round and battered Arce from corner to corner. He appeared to drop him in the corner, when a four-punch combination sent Arce down on the bottom rope.
Moret, though, ruled it was no knockdown.
But all that allowed was for Arce to take another minute of punishment. He seemed resigned to the outcome, though he fought back as hard as he could.
