Humberto Soto meets Jesus Chavez in the Top Rank pay-per-view co-feature on December 19. (Photo by Ethan Miller / Getty Images)

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Top Rank is putting together a full PPV lineup for December 19 that might not make you want to shell out 40 bucks, but isn't for a lack of trying to get some interesting names out there.

We all know that the night's main event from Youngstown, Ohio, will pit middleweight world champion Kelly Pavlik against Miguel Espino, a fight that has not been well-received by fans or media at all, really. The show's main co-feature will main event the Mexico part of the card, as Humberto Soto moves up to lightweight to take on former titlist Jesus Chavez.

Soto calls Chavez "very dangerous," but I don't see that claim going over so hot, either. Jesus Chavez was a hell of a fighter in his prime, but he's not in his prime anymore. The 37-year-old Chavez has already lost fights to Michael Katsidis (Chavez quit on his stool) and David Diaz this year. Diaz had been out of action for over a year. Honestly, and I always hate even bringing it up, Chavez has not been the same since the Leavander Johnson incident, and that was over four years ago. He's also had a bad knee injury that has taken a lot out of him. Soto is the one going up in weight, but Chavez is just a name. He's not a legit contender anymore.

The best fight on the card might be interim WBA bantamweight titleholder Nehomar Cermeno defending against Alejandro Valdez. Valdez was involved in a very controversial fight with Fernando Montiel earlier this year, which it initially appeared he had won. That would've been a strong contender for Upset of the Year, but the fight was changed to a technical draw.

Also appearing on the card will be Jose Luis Castillo, who just helped Manny Pacquiao in training camp, and unbeaten flyweight prospect Hernan "Tyson" Marquez.

Middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik will return to action on December 19 in Youngstown. Pavlik faces Miguel Espino. (Photo via www.vegasnews.com)

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Middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik, who pulled out of two dates with Paul Williams, will fight on December 19 in Youngstown, Ohio against fringe (at best) contender Miguel Espino.

Dan Rafael has the story:

"We're fighting," said Cameron Dunkin, Pavlik's co-manager. "I have the contract here. The hand is good. He did therapy today and he ran today. The therapy, after three sessions, the hand has gotten much better. [The first] is still not closed all the way, but it's so much better. It's really good news. He just can't wait to fight. He really misses this.

"You can't help but have concern about the hand, but we've still got six weeks and that gives us enough time to be ready. He's been running and lifting weights because he was trying to push through for the fight with Williams on Dec. 5. He asked if Williams could wait until the 19th and it couldn't be done. We understood. Now he has another chance to go the 19th and he's going to go."

This might really surprise you if you've been following this story, what with Pavlik being on death's door and staring down the Grim Reaper and delivering a haymaker to his rotten, bony old jaw and saying, "Not today, demon! Not today!" but then I just decide, "Hey, whatever, at least he's getting back in the ring."

It's good that the staph appears to be clearing up. I'm happy to hear that. And you can't really say they didn't try to move the Williams fight to December 19, because they did. But Williams decided that it wasn't worth risking a third Pavlik pull-out, so he's fighting Sergio Martinez on December 5. All in all, can't blame Williams for that, and can't blame Pavlik for getting back out there.

Or is there someone to blame? Speaking with BoxingScene.com's Rick Reeno, Dan Goossen has a different take, as do other members of Team Williams:

“We wanted to fight on October 3, and he refused. We wanted to fight on December 5, and he refused. We would have been waiting here until December of 2011 for this fight to happen,” Goossen said.

Williams' trainer George Peterson was similarly not buying the Pavlik story that Espino became their focus thanks to Williams fighting on December 5 without him:

"All of a sudden since Paul signed a contract to fight Martinez, everything gets well. We know the deal. They didn’t do this [Espino deal] in no split second. We set up three training camps for his ass. These training camps are expensive and time consuming. I would hate to see Paul get in the ring with him now after going through all that. We're over him now. We are concentrating on Sergio Martinez."

Team Pavlik says they'd like to fight Williams in 2010, for what it's worth.

Espino (20-2-1, 9 KO) is a 29-year-old whose best win came in March over Alejandro Garcia. Espino floored Garcia twice, and Garcia quit with a hand injury. Other than that, he lost a fight to Daniel Edouard back in 2003 and one to Peter Manfredo Jr. in 2004, and his record is filled largely with no-names otherwise.

He's got basically no shot, as this is a total comeback, shake-the-rust fight for Pavlik, who was last seen in February when he slaughtered Marco Antonio Rubio. You might say that Rubio was tune-up enough, even with the hand injury, but it's easy to forget Rubio was a top ten middleweight at the time. That was a perfectly legit fight.

Hopefully, Pavlik looks good and feels good, and maybe if Williams beats Martinez on the 5th, we finally move forward and get Pavlik-Williams in the spring or something like that.

Top Rank already had a Latin Fury show scheduled for that night, and now will do another split site PPV. Humberto Soto will be facing Jesus Chavez (ugh) in the featured fight from Mexico, and Pavlik-Espino will close the broadcast.

Simphiwe Nongqayi easily outpointed Jorge Arce in September. The two may meet again on December 19. (Photo via www.timeslive.co.za)

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According to veteran warrior Jorge Arce, a December 19 rematch in Mexico is being planned between himself and his last opponent, Simphiwe Nongqayi. Nongqayi easily outpointed Arce on September 15 in Cancun.

Top Rank does have a Latin Fury show scheduled for December 19, and they might be looking to get another name on there. Right now, Humberto Soto is the main eventer, with rumored opponents like Miguel Acosta and Jesus Chavez (ugh).

What I said immediately after that fight holds true today, so I'll just reprint that:

For the 30-year old Arce, the question rises again. Was this it for the warrior? Arce (52-6-1, 40 KO) looked slow, small, and just plain shot against the clever Nongqayi, who barely let Arce into the fight at all, showing an excellent ability to control range on the lunging, shorter Mexican. To put it simply, Nongqayi owned the ring en route to vanquishing his second Arce brother in a row. Nongqayi beat Jorge's younger brother, Fernando, in February, which earned him a shot at the title Vic Darchinyan held. Darchinyan vacated the title after his loss to Joseph Agbeko at 118 pounds, at which time the IBF had told him he must fight Nongqayi next. Darchinyan also destroyed Arce earlier this year.

I'm not saying I think he will quit now, but I do believe Jorge Arce probably should so long as he's got his finances in order. Prior to this fight, he'd badly lost his last two bouts against top-level foes (Darchinyan and Cristian Mijares). He reeled off five straight wins between those two losses, but one was highly questionable (Devid Lookmahanak) and the other four were against guys that just weren't on his level.

Neither of Arce's two major fights in 2009 -- blowout losses to Nongqayi and Vic Darchinyan -- were even exciting, which was always his calling card. He was simply demoralized in both outings, beaten up hard enough by Darchinyan for his corner to stop the fight. His in-between fight with Fernando Lumacad showed us nothing, really. He's been beating iffy opponents like that and getting smoked by good fighters for years now.

Arce is reportedly already in training camp with Nacho Beristain preparing himself, so this looks like it's probably the real deal. I think it's highly unnecessary. Arce has been through so many hard fights that he's just plain finished on the major level at this stage. He's an exceptionally old 30.

Another loss here could do him in, but you might have thought that before, and he's managed to secure major fights time and again. Part of it is that he's always been such a reliable action star, but that is burning out rapidly, too. But is it better to burn out than to fade away?

If you can do both at the same time, Arce is managing it. He's an admirable guy and boxing fans owe him a debt of gratitude for putting his body on the line so many times, but I wish he'd get out of the ring. I can't see this one going any better than the first fight did.