Jorge Arce-Jesus M Rojas bout ends in a No-Contest, thanks to Rojas’ illegal strike – Boxing News
The bout between Jorge Arce, the former WBO super bantamweight champion, and Jesus M Rojas, the surging young Puerto Rican proud, ended in a no contest as the bout-referee Kenny Bayless declared Rojas’ certain strikes as illegal.
The duo met on the fight card organised and promoted by Bob Arum of Top Rank. The high-profiled pay-per-view was headlined by the WBO welterweight title bout between Manny Pacquiao and Timothy Bradley.
The showdown, televised live on Sunday June 9, 2012 from MGM Grand Garden Arena situated in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, was co-headlined by the bout between Mike Jones and Randall Bailey for the vacant IBF welterweight gold.
Jorge, 32, was entering in his career’s 69th bout and boasted 60 wins. The Mexican proud has nailed 46 of his opponents by sheer knockout and boasts a flawless resume. Also known as ‘Travieso’, the orthodox pugilist has grabbed three world titles in three
different divisions and has spent most of his career in defending and dethroning pugilists from their title reigns.
As far as the odds were concerned, there was a clear unanimity on the fact that Arce will emerge victorious but no one predicted that a no contest scenario will occur. Rojas, 25, was entering in his 21st career bout and boasted 18 wins and just one loss.
As it was expected, Arce started things off in an intimidating manner and unleashed a wave of jabs that not only connected well but also stunned Rojas. In the very first round, Arce flattened Rojas on the ring floor who immediately stood back up on his feet
to counter and challenge Jorge. It was the second round when things started to get out of hands.
Rojas, who might have been mad because of the first-round knockdown, opted to proceed in an aggressive way and connected few decent jabs but suddenly in a split second, Rojas’ left jab connected below Arce’s belt.
The strike was accompanied by a head butt and both strikes were depicted as accidental. The damage was done and Arce fell down on the ring floor trembling with great pain.
The bout-referee examined Arce underwent a discussion with Keith Kizer, Director Nevada State Athletic Commission and eventually announced the clash as a ‘No Contest’. After the bout Jorge, while sharing his thoughts stated, “I was down, felt real dizzy
and was thinking I could get knocked out real bad. Rojas was wrong for what he did. I will go to Puerto Rico to finish him off.”
Rojas, on the other hand, put forth an altogether different point of view and stated, “I came prepared to fight a war. He didn't want to fight. When I hit him, it was a legal blow. He said he was a warrior, but he didn't show it. He felt the power and took
the easy way out.”
The duo will definitely collide one more time in near future and the date, venue and other details of the rematch will be released soon.
Tags: