Jorge Arce, one of boxing's most colorful and entertaining characters, sounds like he may be contemplating retiring from boxing.
While Arce said that he wished he had gone all 12 rounds last night in his loss to Vic Darchinyan and that he feels good aside from the usual bumps and bruises, he is now heading to Miami to embark on a cruise with his family, where he'll stop in Puerto Rico and look to meet up with "good friends" Miguel Cotto and Ivan Calderon.
He does say he'll come back and fight, but added "at least one more time."
Arce, 29, does look like he's pretty quickly declining after years of vicious battles and a good amount of hard beatings, often even in victory. He seemed wobbly-legged in his outstanding fight against and win over Rafael Concepcion last September, and had little to offer offensively that would deter Darchinyan, only occasionally trying to mix it up with the powerful Armenian, and looking fearful of the titleholder's power at times, which has never been something Arce did in the past.
Many warrior boxers have hit the wall around Arce's age. It would be no surprise if last night was his final big-time fight. No matter what happens from this point on, and no matter how you personally feel about Arce and his goofy antics, he's a fighter to be remembered and respected.
The Anaheim Undercard
On the untelevised portion of the card last night, four fighters stayed unbeaten. Most notably, top prospect Vanes Martirosyan (23-0, 14 KO) won an eight-round decision over Billy Lyell (18-7, 3 KO), with a performance described by BoxingScene.com's Luis Sandoval as "flat."
Heavyweight Travis Kauffman improved to 16-0 with a first round knockout of journeyman Cliff Couser, who has looked totally uninterested in fighting the last couple times I've seen him and apparently did in this bout, too. Kauffman's knockout was his 13th.
Chris Avalos (9-0, 7 KO) stopped Torrance Daniels (12-9-1, 5 KO) in the eighth and final round of their fight, and Houston's Omar Henry improved to 3-0 with a first round knockout of Francisco Martinez.