Arreola vs. Minto on December 5th – News

By Jason Kim: Once beaten heavyweight contender Chris Arreola (27-1, 24 KO’s) will be seeing action against number #7 ranked heavyweight contender Brian Minto (34-2, 21 KO’s) on December 5th at the Boardwalk Hall, in New Jersey. Arreola, 28, is hoping to bounce back from a disappointing 10th round stoppage at the hands of World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko on September 26th.

In facing Minto, it would seem that Arreola has the perfect opponent for him to look good against. Minto is a slow plodding type of heavyweight who fights out of an old 1950s style of fighting where he tries to bang out his opponents at close range.

The problem is that Minto isn’t blessed with huge power and has had problems when he’s stepped it up in competition. Minto was defeated by Tony Tubbs in 2004, and then lost a 12 round decision to Luan Krasniqi in 2007. Beyond that, Minto has generally faced only B and C level fighters. Arguably the best win of Minto’s seven year pro career is a 6th round stoppage of then 38-year-old Axel Schulz, who hadn’t fought in the previous seven years before his comeback fight against Minto in 2006.

When looking at the 34-year-old Minto’s record, there’s nothing in there that even remotely suggests that he’ll be able to beat Arreola on December 5th. What is curious is why Minto is ranked number #7 by the WBO despite having faced few good fighters. Minto has never faced a top tier fighter and will be taking a huge step up in competition by facing Arreola. This fight has mismatch written all over it.

The only positive that I can think of about Minto is that he appears to have a decent chin, although he was dropped by a right hand from a Krasniqi in their fight in 2007. Another problem for Minto is his height or lack thereof. He’s only 5’11” and weighs only 217. He’s not big for a heavyweight and looks like he could easily trim off the weight – and a little lard as well – and move down to the cruiserweight division where he might have a better chance of competing against the smaller fighters. Minto’s reach is also limited, only 72”, which is almost a foot shorter than the Klitschko brothers. If Minto had one punch knockout power like Mike Tyson, he could get away with not being very big, but he doesn’t.

Arreola, 6’4”, will have a five inch height advantage to go along with a five inch reach advantage and a huge advantage in power. The only thing that you have to wonder about with Arreola is if he’ll come in shape for the fight. Arreola has had problems ballooning up in weight the past few fights and he needs to make sure he gets down to a reasonable weight if he wants to make a good impression. For Arreola, a good weight for him would be 235. That said, Arreola would likely destroy Minto even if he came into the fight at an obese 300 pounds because he appears to be just too big and too strong for him.

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