We may have seen the end of 35-year-old Jorge Arce (64-8, 49 KOs) last Saturday night in his 11th round knockout loss to WBC featherweight champion Jhonny Gonzalez (57-8, 48 KOs) at the Centro de Usos Multiples, Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico. Arce was knocked down three times in the fight.
The referee stopped the fight in the 11th with Arce still on his feet but no longer even making an effort to fight back. Arce was moving in circles and looking like he was just wanted to survive until the final belt.
Gonzalez fought like he was taking it easy on Arce for most of the fight. Rarely did Gonzalez step it up, and each time he did, Arce wound up on the canvas.
It’s that time of the year again: when fight fans take a look back at what went down in the fistic calendar. 2013 was, in many years one of the best for boxing in a long time. We saw some great action fights, we saw some superb displays of The Sweet Science, we saw a number of electrifying KO’s and we saw our share of controversy.
Martin N. (Philadelphia, PA): You have been consistent from day one about Canelo’s better-than-average chances against Floyd Mayweather in September. Did you see anything on All-Access to sway your opinion one way or the other?
Jhonny Gonzalez was supposed to be on the way down. After all, hadn’t he lost an 8th round TD to Daniel Ponce DeLeon, a fighter that Mares stopped? The odds makers thought so, and so did most boxing analysts; although, most qualified their opinions by saying he had a puncher’s chance. They would go on to describe how well Mares successfully dealt with different styles to remain undefeated. Abner was more versatile than Jhonny. Well, it took Jhonny less than a round to fool Mares and prove all the detractors wrong. 
In a leading candidate for Upset of the Year – and possible Knockout of the Year – former two-division world champion and knockout artist Jhonny Gonzalez (55-8, 47 KO’s) registered a stunning 2:55, first-round knockout over previously unbeaten Abner Mares (26-1-1, 14 KO’s) Saturday on SHOWTIME® before 7,686 loud and enthusiastic fans at StubHub Center in Carson, Calif. 
(Photo credit: Naoki Fakuda) WBC featherweight champion Abner Mares (26-1-1, 14 KO’s) was stopped in the 1st round tonight by the hard hitting challenger Jhonny Gonzalez (55-8, 47 KO’s) at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. Gonzalez knocked Mares down twice with left hands near the end of the 1st round to get the stoppage. Referee Jack Reiss called a halt to the fight after the second knockdown, even though Mares was getting back up, and probably would have been able to make it out of the round. That’s the controversial part of it. Mares only had to stay on his feet for a short amount of time and he would have made it to the end of the round. 
The newly renamed StubHub Center has been the mecca of boxing in southern California and this Showtime Doubleheader will only add to the recent string of action fights. From a matchmaking standpoint this card will produce fireworks to entertain the viewers at home. It also features top prospect talent for the paying customer live at the event. Will it be just a showcase to further drum up attention for the Mares vs. Santa Cruz fight, or will there be some unforeseen drama that happens when fans, promoters, and fighters have one eye on the future without fully focusing on the present?