By Michael Collins: Chris Arreola (35-2, 30 KO’s) sees himself being crowned as a world heavyweight champion by the end of 2012 after he faces IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (57-3, 50 KO’s) in their proposed fight in November or December in New York. Arreola firmly believes he’ll wear Wladimir down and stop him inside the distance in a rough fight.
Arreola said to the Koncrete Jungle “I’m going to make it a scrap. I’m going to make it an ugly, grimy fight. I’m going to drain the best and the worst out of him. I’m going to beat him. By the end of the year, I’m going to be the world heavyweight champ.”
Let’s just hope that Arreola fights a little bit better than he did against Wladimir’s brother WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko in 2009. Arreola was stopped in the 10th round of a one-sided fight where Arreola rarely anything at all. He was trying hard, believe me. But Arreola looked like a little bull with a blindfold on, missing wildly over and over again, and getting pummeled by Vitali. It was so one-sided that you actually felt sorry for Arreola because you can make an argument that the fight should have stopped by the 6th when it was painfully obvious that Arreola has no chance to win and was just taking punishment.
Arreola’s newfound confidence seems to stem in part from his last seven wins that he’s picked up since 2010 against mostly 2nd tier opposition. He mixed in a fringe level top tier opponent Eric Molina in his last fight in February and was shockingly staggered by the inexperienced Molina in the first round. Arreola came back and was able to stop Molina in the same round, but it was disappointing to see a fighter like Molina staggering Arreola in the opening round.
Incidentally, the WBC was the only sanctioning body that had Molina ranked in the top 15. He’s now no longer ranked in the top 15. That tells you that Arreola still has major problems on defense that need fixing. He’s a great puncher, but defensively he needs a lot of work before he faces Wladimir. His offense needs to work, too, as he doesn’t use his jab nearly enough. He’ll have to be able to jab against Wladimir, because he’ll be eating jabs all night long from the outside and he won’t have the height or reach to touch Wladimir.