Jorge Arce Looking For New Opponent, WBO Won't Sanction Parra Rematch

Late last month, Jorge Arce and Lorenzo Parra put together a rematch for Arce's WBO bantamweight title on February 18, with Arce looking to fight his third straight rematch (following second bouts with Simphiwe Nongqayi and Angky Angkotta). The fight was to take place in Mexico and was to serve as both a "stay-busy" fight for Arce, who intended to later move back up to 122 and challenge the winner of Nonito Donaire vs Wilfredo Vazquez Jr, and a chance to atone for a rather lousy performance from Arce in his first fight with Parra, a controversial draw from September 2010.

But the WBO has rejected the fight, according to Fightnews.com, on the basis that Parra (31-3-1, 18 KO) isn't in their top 15 at 118 pounds.

Instead of running through any thoughts on who Arce may instead face, here's the WBO's top 15 as of December 2011: AJ Banal, Pungluang Sor Singyu, Paulus Ambunda, Dayer Gabutan, Marlon Tapales, Tomoki Kameda, William Prado, Joseph Agbeko, Rodolfo Hernandez, Sahib Usarov, Juan Alberto "Topo" Rosas, Phumzile Matyhila, Immanuel Naidjala, Drian Francisco, Lee Haskins.

There are some interesting choices in there (Banal, Pungluang, Agbeko, Rosas), but none would seem likely to happen. It'll be one of them, or maybe someone ranked at 115 or 112, or maybe he'll make it a non-title fight and fight somebody else. Your guess is as good as mine, but the Parra fight is off.