Simphiwe Nongqayi-Jorge Arce rematch being planned, says Arce

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.