By John F. McKenna (McJack): A refocused Chris “The Nightmare” Arreola (35-2, 30 KO’s) believes he is now ready to take on WBA/IBF/WBO/IBO and Ring Magazine heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (57-3, 50 KO’s).

The undefeated Arreola took on Wladimir’s granite chinned brother WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (44-2, 40 KO’s) in September 2009 and was soundly trounced. After 10 rounds of being bombarded by Vitali’s thunderous shots Arreola’s corner was forced to intervene and stop the contest in between rounds.

In his next fight seven months later Chris fought a tougher than expected Tomasz Adamek (45-2, 28 KO’s) and lost a hard fought 12 round decision. Arreola later conceded that losing to Adamek was the low point of his career and decided to start taking his boxing career seriously. In a candid moment “The Nightmare” said that he was tired of showing up at post fight press conferences having to wear sunglasses to hide his swollen eyes. Chirs at that point decided to get into shape and eliminate the excess blubber around his middle. Arreola, even in his fight against Vitali was a good twenty pounds overweight.

Chris made a strategic change and decided that the best way for him to stay in shape was to fight frequently. He forced himself down into the mid 230 pound range and demanded that he be given opponents on a regular basis for the purpose of staying in shape.

In 2011 Arreola fought five times, scoring KO wins over four of his five opponents. “The Nightmare” started off 2012 where he left off in 2011, scoring a first round KO over the upcoming Eric Molina (18-2, 14 KO’s).

Chris will be gunning for his 8th straight win on June 23 when he fights on the undercard of the Victor Ortiz – Josesito Lopez fight against an as yet to be announced opponent. The fight will take place at the Los Angeles Staples Center and will be broadcast live by Showtime. Team Arreola is hopeful that another win will propel him into a title fight with “Dr. Steelhammer”. Showtime, however will insist that Chris’s next match be against a living, breathing opponent. Showtime management has indicated that they are not interested in putting on a fight in which Arreola uses another hapless opponent as cannon fodder.

Wladimir has expressed an interest in fighting Arreola, perhaps in the United States. Chris has an exciting fan pleasing style and has a huge fan base of Mexican – Americans in southern California. It is a given that if he fights Wladimir he will take the fight to him and give it all he’s got. He feels that with constant, unrelenting pressure he will be able to break “Dr. Steelhammer” down.

There is also an outside chance that if Wladimir fights in the United States, the fight will be held in New York City where there is a huge Ukrainian population.