Arreola battles Mitchell tonight

By Boxing News - 09/07/2013 - Comments

Seth Mitchell and Chris Arreola(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Showtime) By Allan Fox: It’s a make it or break it fight for big Chris Arreola (35-3, 30 KO’s) tonight against former college football player Seth Mitchell (26-1-1, 19 KO’s) on SHOWTIME from the Fantasy Springs Casino, in Indio, California, USA.

Arreola lost his last fight to Bermane Stiverne last April, and the fact that he’s fighting in another bout to put him on course for a world title shot against the WBC heavyweight champion tells you that someone up there likes Arreola.

Arreola’s being given another chance, and he can’t afford to blow it this time because a lot in this fight will definitely hurt his rankings. Arreola didn’t see a big slide downward in the rankings after his loss to Stiverne, as Arreola is still ranked at #3 WBC, but it’s not going to stay like that if he gets beaten by Mitchell.

Arreola has the experience advantage against Mitchell, and he’s definitely got the better chin. In terms of power, both guys are pretty similar. Arreola has more left hand power, but Mitchell can punch with a ton of power with either hand, and he’s definitely as powerful as Arreola is with his right hand.
Mitchell hasn’t looked good in his last couple of fights when taking big shots. Johnathon Banks stopped him in the 2nd round last November, and then Mitchell was almost knocked out again in their rematch last June. Mitchell got the win by a 12 round unanimous decision after Banks suffered not one but two hand injuries in that fight.

It’s very likely that Banks would have knocked Mitchell out had he not suffered those injuries. Mitchell won’t be able to count on Arreola hurting both hands tonight, so he’s going to have to show some punch resistance because otherwise he’s not going to last long.

Even if Arreola did hurt one hand, like he did in his loss to Tomasz Adamek, he hits plenty hard enough to knock Mitchell out with whatever hand isn’t injured. Mitchell will have to show some defense and an ability to take Arreola’s occasional big power shot for him to win this fight.



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