Ramirez: “We’re [Arreola] Going to Take the Fight to Klitschko”

By Dave Lahr: In a recent interview Henry Ramirez, the trainer of unbeaten heavyweight champion Chris Arreola, said “We’re going to come out guns blazing and we’re going to take the fight to Klitschko.” Ramirez is referring to World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (37-2, 36 KO’s), who Arreola will be fighting next month on September 26th at the Staples Center, in Los Angeles, California.

The news that Arreola, 28, intends on taking the fight to the 38-year-old Klitschko isn’t all that surprising, because the round shaped Arreola has little boxing ability and wins virtually all his fights by pounding his opponents into submission. However, it is more than a little disappointing that Arreola will be trying to go right at the 6’7” 250 Klitschko, because that would seem like a suicidal move on Arreola’s part to take that kind of approach against the ironed chin Ukrainian.

Arreola likes to turn his bouts into a dog fight in which he overwhelms his opponents with big clubbing shots. He’s good at testing the stamina of his opponents by going right at them and unloading with his biggest shots until they eventually get mowed down.

Arreola has been able to do this because at 6’4” 255 pounds, he’s been much bigger and stronger than his in most cases. The two exceptions were Jameel McCline and Travis Walker, both taller than him. But, neither of those fighters had the chin to stand up to Arreola’s big punches, although they both ended up hurting Arreola with power shots before being taken out.

Arreola doesn’t generally take advantage of his height by throwing jabs, perhaps because he’s not very fast and is able to be countered when he throws his lazy looking jabs. He’s best when he’s coming forward firing big shots, and trying to take his opponent’s heads off.

Ramirez may be right in having Arreola coming at Vitali rather than trying to pick his spots to look for openings. If Arreola can back Klitschko up, taking away Vitali’s jab and forcing him to slug it out, this at least gives Arreola a chance to win the fight. He obviously won’t be able to compete with Vitali if he allows Klitschko to fight on the outside with his jab and short hooks.

Klitschko doesn’t have a lot of speed or movement like his talented brother Wladimir Klitschko, and will be forced to move at a much slower pace when pressed. Vitali can move okay for a 6’7” fighter, but he doesn’t move as well as he used to and may tire out if Arreola can keep on top of him and make him expend a lot of energy.

Still, there’s not much of a chance that Arreola will be able to succeed with this style of fighting, because he’s not hard to hit like Klitschko’s last opponent Juan Carlos Gomez. Vitali had a lot of problems landing his shots against the crafty Cuban, who prevented Klitschko from landing by staying on the outside and holding his right hand way out in front of him.

Eventually, Vitali figured out his style and took him out with a couple of hard left hooks to the head. Arreola is too heavy to use that kind of style and won’t be able to fight nearly as effective if he fights in a subtle manner. With Arreola, it’s all or nothing. He’s too heavy to fight at a slow pace because the extra fat that he carries on his frame will tire him out eventually and he’ll become less effective.

The longest that Arreola has fought in his six year pro career was eight rounds against Malcom Tann two years ago in May 2007. While Arreola won the fight by an 8th round stoppage, he looked ragged and exhausted at the end of the fight.

Now two years older and twenty pounds heavier, Arreola likely won’t have improved much since then. For this reason, Arreola needs to shoot his fireworks early and try to take Klitschko out before he himself wears down from carrying his own weight around the ring. It’s a race against time, but it’s probably Arreola’s only chance at winning.

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