By ESPN.COM
Los Mochis, Mexico (October 5th, 2014)– Featherweight titleholder Jhonny Gonzalez steamrolled through countryman Jorge Arce, dropping him three times before stopping him in the 11th round of an utterly one-sided fight to retain his world title on Saturday night in Los Mochis, Mexico, Arce’s hometown.
Gonzalez and Arce have both been involved in memorable brawls throughout their long and distinguished careers and many expected another classic when they finally met. Instead, it turned out to be a Gonzalez whitewash.
Bigger, stronger, faster and with a longer reach, Gonzalez did as he pleased against Arce, whose career may very well have come to an end.
At 35, Arce (64-8-2, 49 KOs) was seeking a major world title in his fifth weight class and his fourth win in a row since ending an 11th-month retirement he announced following a third-round knockout loss challenging then-junior featherweight titleholder Nonito Donaire in December 2012.
Arce has won world titles at junior flyweight, junior bantamweight, bantamweight and junior featherweight as well as an interim belt at flyweight, which is where he was at his best. He came out of retirement, he said, for the opportunity to win yet another belt. But age, wear and tear from all the wars, not to mention the continual rise in weight, clearly have taken their toll on Arce, who had nothing against Gonzalez.
Gonzalez (57-8, 48 KOs), a former bantamweight titleholder, won every single round — with none even debatable – before the knockout. He opened a cut on the bridge of Arce’s nose in the second round and things never got better for Arce.
The 33-year-old Gonzalez, who repeatedly landed hard left hooks throughout the fight, opened a bloody cut over Arce’s left eye in the third round and blood soaked his face for the remainder of the bout. Later in the third round, Gonzalez landed one of his powerful hooks to score the first knockdown of the bout, although Arce jumped up quickly.
Arce tried to get inside against Gonzalez and land right hands, but his arms are so much shorter than Gonzalez’s he had no success.
Arce landed a hard left hook that backed Gonzalez up early in the fifth round, bringing the hometown crowd to life, but could not capitalize. With 15 seconds left in the round, Gonzalez pounded Arce with another left hook, knocking out his mouthpiece and dropping him for the second time.
Arce showed bravado several times in the ensuing rounds, pounding his gloves together as if asking Gonzalez to come at him. Gonzalez, who had predicted before the fight that his size and reach advantages would be the difference, obliged. Midway through the ninth round, Gonzalez landed yet another left hook to the head and knocked Arce down for the third time.
Arce’s eye continued to drip blood and when he spit out his mouthpiece during the 11th round, referee Johnny Callas warned him that one more time and it would cost him a point, as if it that even mattered at that point of the fight with Arce trailing so badly.
Later in the 11th, after Gonzalez drove Arce back to the ropes with a right hand followed by another hook, Callas mercifully intervened and stopped the fight at 2 minutes, 43 seconds. Arce had not been hit by anything devastating to force the stoppage, but he had taken a lot of punishment to that point.
Gonzalez was making the second defense of his second featherweight title reign. He regained his 126-pound belt in upset fashion by knocking out Abner Mares in the first round in August 2013 and made his first defense on May 24, struggling in a 10th-round technical decision win against unheralded Clive Atwell of Guyana.
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