Vic Darchinyan threw everything but the kitchen sink at Jorge Arce, but Arce just wouldn’t fall down. Hell, he wouldn’t even stop coming forward. It took the ring doctor to call a halt to the fight, stopping it prior to the 12th round.

Darchinyan was in control for nearly the entire fight. He stalked Arce and won seemingly every exchange. There were a few rough patches early, but once Vic opened it up, Arce had no chance.

Darchinyan came out and boxed well while picking his spots to unload his monster left hand. He connected several times in the first two rounds and it looked like it could be a quick night for the southpaw.

Things changed in the third round when Arce caught Darchinyan with a combination, briefly staggering the champion. Darchinyan held on for a minute and seemed to get his legs back under him before the round was over.

In the first half of the fight, it seemed that whoever was the counterpuncher had control of each exchange, but as Darchinyan broke Arce down, he took control of nearly every situation.

At that point, the fight took on the look of a classic slugfest, not in the least bit aesthetically pleasing, but classic in its own right. Both men were willing to trade, but Darchinyan all too often got the better of the exchanges. With the lefty-righty matchup, there were plenty of feet stepping on each other and multiple headbutts, causing a cut on Darchinyan’s head. Arce too was covered in blood, but it was unclear how much of it was from heads and elbows and how much was from lefts and rights.

Arce battled valiantly, even when it appeared that he had no chance on the scorecards and lacked the pop to knock Darchinyan out with one big punch. He showed tremendous heart and above all, a tremendous chin, even earning praise from the always tough-talking Darchinyan.

For all of the pre-fight trash talk (lasting nearly three years), both of the fighters were extremely gracious after the fight. Arce was obviously disappointed in the stoppage, but was complimentary of the victor’s strength and skill, while Darchinyan praised Arce’s chin and toughness, telling someone off camera after the fight just how badly Arce would beat them if they fought.

Darchinyan improves to 32-1-1 with 26 knockouts, while Arce drops to 51-5-1 with 39 KOs.

All three judges had the fight 109-100 at the time of the stoppage, and the official time of the stoppage was 3:00 of round 11.

Darchinyan’s lone loss was to Nonito Donaire, leading Jim Gray to ask Vic about a potential rematch after the fight. While Darchinyan expressed his desire to avenge his only loss, his promoter, Gary Shaw, made it abundantly clear that a rematch won’t be happening. Shaw is bitter at Donaire over personal business issues and won’t make the fight. If there could be a clearer example of what’s wrong with boxing, I don’t know what it is. Let the fighter attempt to avenge his loss in the best fight that can be made. Put your personal issues aside. If you can’t do that, get the hell out of the business.

*****

On the undercard, lightweight prospect Antonio DeMarco stopped Almazbek “Kid Diamond” Raiymkulov, when Raiymkulov retired after nine rounds with what appeared to be a broken nose.