Arce stops Hussein on Castillo-Corrales undercard
By Dan Rafael
ESPN.com

LAS VEGAS -- Jorge Arce retained his interim flyweight title with a second-round destruction of Hussein Hussein of Australia on Saturday night.

The fight, a rematch, was the final undercard match before the much-anticipated Diego Corrales-Jose Luis Castillo rematch at the Thomas & Mack Center.

"I think he was still hurt from our fight in March. I could tell because he couldn't take any of my shots," Arce said.

Arce wasted little time establishing himself, knocking Hussein down with a hard right hand to the chin with about 1:30 to go in the first round. Hussein spent the remainder of the round trying to clear his head and stay away from Arce.

Arce kept winging punches in the second round and staggered Hussein with a left hand while they were trading punches on the inside.

Seconds later, Arce clubbed Hussein with a right hand and left hook that dropped him again.

Although Hussein (28-3) got up, he was shaky, and trainer Jeff Fenech threw in the towel. Referee Kenny Bayless then quickly stopped the fight at 2:50 of the round.

"He was wobbling forward and he was still hurt," Fenech said of his reason for throwing in the towel. "I've never had a fighter that was hurt bad and I don't want one."

The fight didn't come close to matching the drama and excitement of their first fight in March.

When they met on the undercard of the Erik Morales-Manny Pacquiao fight it was -- at least for a brief time -- regarded as a strong fight of the year candidate. That was until the main event that night as well as the first Corrales-Castillo fight in May surpassed it.

Arce (41-3-1, 31 KOs), fighting through a horrible cut on the bridge of his nose, scored a 10th-round TKO.

Arce is expected to face champion Pongsaklek Wonjongkam of Thailand, hoping to remove the interim tag from his title.

Also on the undercard:

• Bobby Pacquiao (26-11-3) shockingly was awarded a 10-round split decision against Carlos Hernandez (41-6-1) in a highly controversial junior lightweight fight.

The crowd was in an uproar when the scores were read because it appeared as though Hernandez, a former 130-pound titlist and the only fighter from El Salvador to win a world title, dominated the fight after the second round.

Even Pacquiao's trainer, Freddie Roach, was shocked by the decision.

"Hernandez won the fight," Roach said. "He outhustled us."

Judge Chuck Giampa scored it 95-94 and judge Duane Ford had it 95-93 for Pacquiao, 25, the younger brother of junior lightweight star Manny Pacquiao. Judge Robert Hoyle scored it 97-92 for Hernandez. ESPN.com scored it 98-91 for Hernandez.

"Nothing I can say about this," said Hernandez, who was cheered wildly by the crowd when lifted up on the shoulders of his handlers.

Pacquiao, of the Philippines, hurt Hernandez with a pair of uppercuts midway through the second round and then dropped him to his knees with a left hook to the jaw. But that was as much as he accomplished.

Hernandez did look spent but he rallied in the third round. It featured classic two-way action as Pacquiao continued to pound Hernandez for the first half of the round. But Hernandez came back and had Pacquiao reeling as the round came to a close.

He continued to dominate the fight as the rounds wore on, working on the inside and hammering Pacquiao to the body.

But two of the judges were apparently watching something else.

It is the second questionable decision Hernandez has lost this year. In his last fight, he lost a split decision to Jesus Chavez in a title eliminator. They were supposed to fight a rematch Saturday night, but Chavez opted to instead move up to lightweight, where he won a title in an ill-fated fight with Leavander Johnson last month.

• Junior welterweight Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (23-0, 18 KOs) pounded Jeremy Stiers (9-5) of Kansas City around the ring for four-plus rounds until referee Richard Steele stopped the mismatch.

With his legendary father Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. at ringside, Chavez Jr., 19, ripped Stiers with left hooks to the body and straight right hands, swelling up his face.

When Stiers began to slump in the corner after a right hand in the fifth round, Steele stepped in at 47 seconds.

Chavez Jr. had no amateur experience and fights like this are providing him with on-the-job training. He will be back in action on the Nov. 12 card headlined by heavyweight champ Vitali Klitschko vs. Hasim Rahman.

There is a chance that Chavez Jr. will face Grover Wiley, the fighter who made Chavez Sr. quit in his last fight last month.

"Next fight, I want the man who beat my father," Chavez Jr. said.

i hate how this writer try to make it sound like b pac got murdered. it was a close fight

dont mind espn

they have poor boxing comprehension. lolz

its a close fight

pac won 1,2,5,9,10

rd 2 is 10-8

so its 95-94 pac

case closed

from dan rafael..? not a big surprised for me..

come on man dan rafael is a PACQUIAO hater...he doesnt like manny and now bobby...im not surprised either... and roach sayin hernandez won??...man freddie roach is the best trainer..haha...he said that so they can get rematch and get more money(cuz its controvercial)..lol

i feel a bobby vs famoso rematch in the air.......

Heh, I am not surprised that it is from Rafael... that guy always writes weird stuff...

No rematch, B-Pac should move on to bigger and better things, he will get a bigger purse fighting someone else... Time for Famoso to retire...

yada yada yada!
a win is a win, but IMO this win by bob wont get him any bigger than he is right now because alot of boxing "expert" thinks its controversial and famoso won it!
just my opinion! haha

if he want true recogniton for his name.he must rematch famoso..

i always thought bobby will get murdered in this fight. im glad bobby, in a sense, proved me wrong. i think there will be a rematch. and i think bobby will get murdered! but i hope bobby proves me wrong again! good luck to bobby.

You hit the nail in the coffin rbm115.

Bobby definetly won round 1, 2, 9, & 10. There were a couple of close rounds after that and obviously the 2 judges saw Bobby winning one of those and since Bobby won the 2nd round 10-8 then that shows how Bobby won the split.

Everyone stop crying of complaining. Bobby shouldn't have even been in a split decision let a alone knocking Hernandez down. Hernandez didn't do his job and Bobby did. BPAC WINS period.

a remath will likely be a solution...hehehe

i guess espn wrtiters have no love for pinoy boxers...

I don't see anything BobPac will do can make you changed your mind for him. If they fight , you will think he gonna get murderd on their third fight unless you are proven wrong and you'll gonna say again on their fought fight he gonna get murdered unless you proves you wrong. For me whatever you, and those american sport writers say, are pointless. He wins and if their is rematch, maybe a year from now, BobPac will beat him this time convincingly. "El Famoso" will be 35 years old and he will too old then.
So what I can say is..... get over it and move on.....

When was the last time ESPN gave a positive position in a close decision like that? When ESPN covered Luisito Espinosa's defense against Cesar Soto, it was obvious that Espinosa annihilated Soto and he should have retained the title and set him up for a multi-million dollar fight against the then-highly touted Hamed. But this media people connived with their boxing Gods and let Espinosa lose via a Unanimous Decision. They made it appear that Espinosa deserved to lose when during their coverage the broadcasters always say the good shots from Soto and replaying the hits of Soto instead of the combinations given by Espinosa against Soto.
It was complete manipulation. Because they never wanted to give Espinosa a chance. Espinosa would spoil their party.
That loss was the start of spiraling downfall of our boxing hero Espinosa.
Tables have turned and at last we won a close fight which I think was a fair fight that could have gone either way. These people in ESPN don't have good things to say for our boxers.

ESPN is only good in giving sports news. They were never good in analyzing what happened. They're just a bunch of loud blabbering mouths !