Klitschko: “Can Arreola Beat Me? I Don’t Think So”

By Jason Kim: At yesterday’s final press conference at the Nokia Plaza L.A. LIVE, WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko sounded confident as he prepares to defend his title for the second time against challenger Chris Arreola at the Staples Center, in Los Angeles. Klitschko, 38, took a low key approach to the interview, treating Arreola with respect. Klitschko will be facing an opponent with power on par with his own. What Arreola doesn’t have the height and reach that the 6’7″ Klitschko has going for him in this fight. That alone will be a problem for Arreola to deal with in this fight.

Arreola has good power in both hands but he has never fought anyone close to being as good as Klitschko. His best opponents to this date are B class fighters Chazz Witherspoon, Travis Walker and Jameel McCline. Arreola stopped them all, but he still is unproven against top level opponents.

Arreola’s management perhaps should have taken a risk by putting Arreola in with at least a couple of good top tier fighters like Kevin Johnson and Odlanier Solis before putting him in with a murderous puncher like Klitschko. But Arreola and his team obviously weren’t going to turn down a good money fight against Klitschko, even if Chris might not be ready for this class of opposition at this point in his career.

There are still tickets available for all seating at the Staples center, with the tickets ranging from a low of $50 to a high of $500. It likely won’t sell out before Saturday. However, there should be a decent sized crowd that will show up with most of them coming to see Arreola, a local fighter, attempt to become the first Mexican to win a heavyweight title.

If Arreola wants to win the fight, he’s going to have to look a lot better than he did in his last two fights against Walker and McCline. In both of those fights, Arreola didn’t throw a lot of punches and looked very slow. Some of it had to do with the high weight that Arreola came into both fights. Arreola weighed in the mid 250s for both fights and looked in bad shape for a heavyweight contender.

Arreola was dropped by Walker in the first round and had to get up off the deck to take him out two rounds later in the 3rd. It was admirable that Arreola was able to come back from the knockdown, but it was a really bad sign that he was dropped in the first place.

Arreola made a mistake in both the Walker and McCline fights by coming out looking to slug without focusing on his defense. McCline hurt Arreola as well, and staggered him in the third round of their bout in April. Arreola can’t afford to make that mistake against Vitali or else he’ll be chopped down and finished off.

Arreola has a chance in this fight because of his youth and Klitschko’s age. But Arreola will have to fight the perfect fight if he expects to win. He can’t just stay on top of Vitali and try to batter him to the canvas like he has against his other opposition during his career.

At the upper level, Arreola is going to find out that he needs to be more strategic if he wants to win. Hopefully, Arreola doesn’t rush out quickly trying to knock Vitali out in the early rounds, because he probably won’t have much luck using that kind of approach against a skilled craftsman like Klitschko.

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