Jorge Arce – From Big Brother To American Idol
by
Buster Paris
3/21 - I think it was in round six that I sat back and thought, “wow – I’m totally diggin’ this fight”. This caliber of bout was completely unexpected and was my introduction to Jorge Armondo Arce. All I could think was that I’m a fan.
I now “get” what Paula Abdul means when she says it on American Idol. I always though that “I’m a fan” was kind of a dumb expression or sentiment until I lived it.
I’m a total fan.
Jorge “Travieso” Arce vs. Hussein “Hussi” Hussein was on the under card for the Morales and Pacquiao fight that took place this past Saturday night on HBO pay-per-view on March 19th, 2005.
I wasn’t really going to pay too much attention to it. Just watch it out of the corner of my eye. It was filler until the main event. This was going to be the time I prep for Morales-Pacquiao. Pop my popcorn, move my cream soda from the ‘fridge to the freezer for a bit and get my pad and pen ready.
My attention was caught when HBO’s Larry Merchant mentioned that Arce was on the TV Reality Show Big Brother. For those Reality TV junkies that were screaming at their sets “No he wasn’t!” – yes he was. He was on the Mexican Televisa version back in 2003 – where he came in 3rd.
From the look and appearance of Jorge I thought that this guy is pretty cool. I liked the cowboy hat, the fun ring walk and I really liked the throwback shorts. He has a sleepy and mischievous face like the actor Benicio Del Toro.
As the fight started I was very impressed. His style reminded me of Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini and Roberto Duran, Jorge just let fly with punches. He had Hussein in trouble within the first few moments of round 1, but there were two things keeping him from putting “Hussi” away. Arce was a bit too wild and over zealous to finish him and referee Vic Drakulich took like 5 minutes to get Hussein to let go Arce.
As the fight went on Hussein seemed to be the more skillful boxer. He had cleaner footwork and a more polished style. He got hurt a couple times during the bout and I was surprised and impressed that he survived each of these onslaughts. What I didn’t like was that he held much too often and finally in the 5th round Drakulich took a point away.
Arce was the better fighter. He would not stop moving forward and would not stop punching. He bobs and weaves beautifully and has that Duran love of the game.
Let’s talk about that cut on the bridge of the nose of Jorge Arce. It was bad, real bad and real deep. Blood seemed to just pour out all over him. I was very worried that they were going to stop the fight and was feeling so disappointed for Jorge who was fighting his heart out and winning only to lose because of this cut.
Luckily the cut was not affecting his vision, but losing that much blood it’s no wonder he slowed down in rounds 7 and 8 and luckily again he got a second wind in rounds 9 and 10.
Round 10 was great. Arce had Hussein hurt badly. With only a minute to go Jorge had Hussein in the corner and just let fly with punches.
Have you ever crumpled up a piece of tin foil into a ball? That’s how Hussein looked from the waist up when he his legs finally gave out. He slumped to the canvas and his torso just folded inward as his manager/trainer Jeff Fenech stopped the fight.
Hussein was pissed, but this wasn’t just a knockdown, this was a fight ending barrage of punches where the only result if Hussein could have risen at the count of 9 was Hussein getting seriously hurt.
Great, great fight. I’m having trouble with deciding if it was better than the main event or not. I’ve got to let them both sink in. One thing I know is that I’m a big fan of Jorge Armondo Arce and am looking forward to seeing him fight again.
He’s a kick ass Mexican fighter. He has great charisma and posses a unique style comparable to that of Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini and Roberto “Manos de Piedra” Duran. This is such a great fighting style that I not only want to see more, I need to see more.
Jorge turned profession at 17 years old, fought his first 22 fights in Mexico. He is 25 years old now, has not lost a fight since 1999 and has 43 fights under his belt. He has 39 wins (29 by KO), 3 loses and 1 draw.
He fights like 2 of my all time favorite fighters - “Boom Boom” and Duran! – I need to see more!
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