Sharkie’s Machine
By Frank Gonzalez Jr.
September 23rd, 2006
“Jorge Arce Keeps His Word”
On his way to partake in a WBC
Super Flyweight Eliminator bout, Masibulele “Hawk”
Makepula looked in a trance. He sang a religious
song as he marched very slowly to the ring. It felt
like 20 minutes. That’s a great strategy if you aim
to put the crowd to sleep. I also notice that often
times when guys sing spiritual hymns en route to the
ring, they get knocked out.
Rising Mexican Star and aspiring Super Flyweight
Champion Jorge Arce said before the fight that he’d
move around a bit in the first couple of rounds
before knocking Makepula out in the fourth. Arce
backed up his words and improved his record to
45-3-1-35 KO’s after losing the first two rounds to
Makepula (28-4-0-18 KO’s), then coming on strong in
the third and fulfilling his pledge to win by TKO in
the fourth round.
Makepula showed some nice boxing skills in the first
two rounds, countering nicely and landing decent
shots with both hands. Arce may not be the prettiest
boxer but he has other qualities, like his ferocious
attack with no regard for what may come back. His
own blood only gets him more riled up.
In the third round, the ref warned Arce for a low
blow. There were a lot of exciting exchanges. Arce’s
aggression turned the boxing match into a brawl.
Arce cracked Makepula with a good left that snapped
his head back and saw the momentum shift in his
favor.
In the fourth round, Arce landed a left hook that
rocked Makepula. Hawk’s boxing skills were
insufficient to contain the increasingly aggressive
Arce. Makepula opted to go pure defense. Arce took
his powerful charisma, balled it into his fists and
started to whack Makepula with a slew of punches,
landing one for every five thrown.
Makepula, in a defensive posture, leaned on the
ropes for support. Arce kept attacking and soon
landed a clean right hand that staggered Makepula.
Arce smelled blood and went after Hawk with
continuous punches, landing just often enough to
knock Makepula down. The punch that floored Makepula
looked like a combination of Hawk being off balance
and a ‘pushing punch’ from Arce.
Makepula went down clumsily but did get up to beat
the count. As the ref approached him, Hawk looked
into the face of Drakulich, mouthing what looked
like the words, “I’m ok.” But Drakulich waved his
arms over Makepula, rendering Arce the winner by TKO
4. Makepula, eyes clear, looked over his shoulder
and then the camera made him disappear.
Jorge Arce predicted a KO in four. He got it. Maybe
he got an assist from the referee, who was quick to
call it off. Makepula did look capable of
continuing. There would be no post fight interview
for Makepula, only for Arce. I don’t know how fair
that is but hey, you get what you accept.
Jorge Arce wears a big Cowboy hat and smiles with
infectious jubilation. Fans love him and he loves
them back. He puts on a hell of a show in
entertaining fights. He brings it on ala “old
school” Mexican fighters—only with a little extra
pizzazz.
During the post fight interview, it was suggested
that Arce move up in weight—if he wants to make more
money. The Makepula fight was officially at
115-pounds but both guys entered the ring weighing
over 125-pounds actual. Considering that, I can’t
see Arce staying at 115 for long, especially if he
wins his next fight.
For all his appeal, Arce has some deficiencies on
defense that could be exploited by a skillful boxer
with a good chin and some pop in his punch. Nobody
knows what would happen against another very
aggressive brawler of equal stature. That would boil
down to who lands the biggest shots first or,
‘¿quien es mas macho?’
Before he moves up, I’d like to see him fight
premium Flyweight, Vic Darchinyan (26-0, 21 KO’s) at
a catch weight, or really make his bones by fighting
Fernando Montiel (32-2-1, 24 KO’s) at Super Fly
next. Montiel is a superb technical fighter at Super
Fly and Darchinyan is about as exciting as Arce at
Flyweight. Arce has offered himself up to HBO,
willing to fight whoever they want him to fight.
There are lots of good fighters at those smaller
weight classes but I hope Darchinyan and Montiel are
on the agenda.
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Comments can be emailed to Frank Gonzalez Jr.
