By Eric Thomas: Heavyweight contender Chris Arreola (30-2, 26 Ko’s) has finally got his weight under control and looks to have taken off a lot of weight heading into his May 14th bout against Nagy Aguilera (16-5, 11 KO’s) at the Home Depot Center, in Carson, California.

Arreola, who was at his best fighting in the 230s, suddenly ballooned up in weight to 258 in 2009 for his bout against Israel Carlos Garcia. Since that time, Arreola has consistently scaled in the 250s all the way up to 263. The weight has clearly had a negative effect on his career, as he’s now lost two out of his last five bouts.

His last defeat was against Tomasz Adamek in April 2010, losing by a 12 round decision. Arreola looked to have taken off weight too quickly for that fight and even though he was at 250, which sadly was a good weight for him compared what he had been coming before that, he was still too fat. Now, judging by recent photos of Arreola, he seems to have gotten control over his eating and looks to be in good shape.

Arreola came into his last fight weighing 249 against a badly over-matched Joey Abell. Arreola wasted little time in taking Abell out with a flurry of shots in a quick 1st round knockout.

Having taken off a lot of weight seemed to have really helped Arreola, because he looked to be a lot faster than he was in his other bouts where he tipped the scale in the mid-250s. He now looks even lighter than 249, and it makes you wonder if Arreola might be going a bit overboard in taking off weight.

He actually looks too thin for him, and appears to have taken off muscle as well as fat. It probably won’t much difference because he’s only fighting Aguilera, someone that he should be able to easily knockout no matter what kind of condition he comes into the fight.

However, against better opposition, Arreola can’t afford to come in weight drained from taking off too much weight in a fat farm. He’s got to take off weight the smart way by slowly taking it off and not going overboard with dieting and/or aerobic exercises.