W.B.C. Flyweight eliminator.

Through the years, Australia has had some notable fighters who travelled the world fighting the best in their divisions. guys like Johnny Famechon, Barry Micheals, Jeff Harding, Jeff Fenech, and more recently, Robbie Peden, Sam Soliman, Jason Delisle, and Tommy Browne. These fighters slugged it out for themselves and also for their country, and last weekend, another boxer carried on that tradition.

Hussein Hussein.

Hussein was matched to fight the notorious Mexican champion , Jorge Arce, on the undercard of the superbrawl between Eric Morales and Manny Pacquiao, at the M.G.M. Grand Arena, in Las Vegas.
The winner of the bout would be next in line for the W.B.C. Flyweight title shot, and both boxers were pumped up for a big fight.

Arce is a huge celebrity with the Mexican fight fans and the fans were going crazy as he jogged out to the ring , dressed as a lolly pop sucking cowboy, while Hussein walked out with trainers Jeff Fenech, and Billy Hussein at his side.
This fight was allways going to be a tough fight for both men. Arce [ w39
29kos , losses 3, and 1 draw] had been fighting, and dominating the light flyweight division since the mid nineties, and had been in with a who's who of Mexican boxers, working his way up the ratings, before challenging the tremendous, big punching boxer, Micheal Carbajal for his W.B.O. light fly weight title in 1999. Carbajal used all of his fox like skills to weather the early onslaught from Arce, until he found an opening in the 11th round, and stopped him with a lethal combination.

From there, Arce, fought on, and improved his teqnique, and his record, to get a shot at the W.B.C. light fly weight title against the tough Yo Sam Choi from Korea. Arce took the Koreans heart and his title by stopping him in the 6th round and from there , he was a national hero in Mexico.

Since winning the title, Arce had stopped most of his challengers in the first six rounds apart from the granite chinned Mexican, Juanito Rubillar, who took him the distance . Arce was a dangerous man in the ring.

Hussein,[ w27 21 kos, losses 2 and 0 draws ] a noted body puncher, made his debut in 1998 with quick knockout wins against aussie and thai boxers who just couldnt take his power, and after his epic 10 round battle against the durable Pornchai Sithpraprom in Sydney, Hussein continued to ko all before him. In 2003, he finally got his chance at the big time. He was matched to fight the Thai, Pongsaklek Wonjongkam for the W.B.C. flyweight championship of the world. Wonjongkam was a tough cookie and was virtually unbeatable as a seasoned pro, but Hussein travelled to Bangkok, and gave the champion all he could handle. After 12 brutal rounds, the champion got the nod and Hussein took the decision on the chin. With title shots falling through for him , Hussein kept punching his opponents out until last weekend he finally got another crack at the big time.
At 29, Hussein knew this was possibly his last chance and in training, he left no stone unturned.

When both boxers touched gloves , you could just tell this was not going the distance, and with only a couple of minutes gone in the first, Arce hit Hussein with a left hook that rocked him to his boots. Hussein took it and survived and actually came back to finish the round well. Arce was a crazy man and he could sense victory was just one punch away. Hussein had other ideas. The second round , the proud Aussie came back and Arce was looking confused with Hussein winning the round. The next few rounds was toe to toe action with Arce firing his six gun straight left rights into Husseins right eye and Hussein throwing wide hooks to Arce's head.

This was tremendous action and already a candidate for fight of the year. In the 6th round,Hussein started to use the uppercut with great results but imazingly, Arce came back with some huge power shots of his own. After losing one point for pushing Arce down in the 8th, the Mexican fired out some more big shots and Hussein was looking ragged. By now, both boxers were looking tired but still they punched on, making this, the ninth the most exciting round of the fight so far. This was a war! It was now the 10th round and both fighters fought with heart, unseen in the flyweight division for many a year. Arce caught Hussein with a cracking left hook that sent Hussein across the ring apron, before catching him with a huge right hand left hook to knock him down. At 2:07 Husseins trainers threw in the towel to save their boxer and friend from further punishment. No doubt about it, he had taken some big shots, and when Hussein looks at the tape, he will thank them for it.

Arce fought intensely, and won the war well, but for me Hussein Hussein, fought with great heart and soul. When he sees the tape he will see he had Arce, but he will also see he didnt double up enough on the jab, or go to the body enough to win the fight.