Wladimir is Nervous About Vitali’s Bout Against Arreola

By Dave Lahr: IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, the younger brother of World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko, is worried about tonight’s fight between Vitali and the tough, hard-hitting Mexican Chris Arreola (27-0, 24 KO’s). In an article at Max Boxing, Wladimir had this to say about tonight’s fight: “I’m getting pretty nervous, yeah. It’s easier for me to actually stay in the ring and be in the ring as a fighter, than to be in the corner of my brother. So it’s easier to actually fight than being in the corner.”

Wladimir would rather be the one fighting rather than watching his older brother toil with the tough 28-year-old Arreola. Wladimir Klitschko is familiar with Arreola’s style of fighting, as he’s used him as a sparring partner in the not too distance past and sees Arreola’s fighting style as all out war.

Wladimir has a good reason to be nervous about this fight because Arreola is a real threat to Klitschko because of his youth and power. Arreola has set the world on fire in the past year with quick knockouts against Travis Walker, Jameel McCline and an equally dominating performance against top contender Chazz Witherspoon. Arreola has the whole package going for him. He’s not weak in any one area and will be a very tough fight for Klitschko.

Wladimir might not have the chin that his brother Vitali has, but he has the better jab, hand speed and ability to move. Arreola says he’d rather face Vitali than Wladimir, because he knows how tough Wladimir is because of his overall boxing skills and sees that as tougher fight for him because Wladimir wouldn’t be standing there in front of him all night long like Vitali will likely be doing tonight.

This is why Vitali is going to need to try and use some movement against Arreola to get him to move his legs. Klitschko can’t stand directly in front of a big puncher like Arreola all night long without something bad happening. Wladimir knows well enough that it wouldn’t be wise to stand and trade with Arreola at close range because he’d be vulnerable against his big shots.

But he knows how to beat Arreola. The question is does Vitali? The big Klitschko brother has an ego and likes to stand and trade shots. That might have been something that would have worked for him in the past when he was younger and less injury prone. But now, Vitali needs to use his brain and not get caught up in any wars with the younger, equally strong Arreola. I suspect that Vitali will have too much bravado and won’t want to move away from Arreola.

This will play directly into the hands of Arreola because he’ll have a stationary target to get his big shots off against. I figure Vitali won’t realize that he’s made a huge mistake until he gets dropped for the first time in the fight. By then, it will probably be too late for Vitali, because once he’s hurt, Arreola will zoom for the kill and take him out with a flurry of big bone-jarring blows that wills send Klitschko to the canvas for the final time.

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