By Dan Ambrose: Chris Arreola (36-5-1, 31 KOs) met with defeat last Saturday night in getting stopped by WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (37-0, 36 KOs) in a failed world title shot on Premier Boxing Champions on Fox. Arreola was halted in the 8th round after his corner had the fight stopped after the round had ended. It was the type of performance where you can argue that the 35-year-old Arreola should retire rather than continue his career.
However, Arreola says he won’t be retiring. He wants a rematch with #12 WBC Eric Molina (25-3, 19 KOs), who he stopped in the 1st round four years ago in 2012. Arreola says that Molina has been talking trash about him, and gave him some grief about his loss to Wilder by calling him a quitter.
“No, I still have a score to settle, even though I beat up Molina,” Arreola said at the post-fight press conference last Saturday night. “He still has a big mouth. That mother [expletive] doesn’t even know Spanish, so [expletive] that guy. Let me give Wilder all the credit. He beat me with that jab, and he just kept me on the outside. I couldn’t figure him out. I’ve just got to give him all the credit in the world because he was a much better fighter today. You have to be a real fighter to be in the ring with someone like him. This is the heavyweight business. You’ve got to know how to deal with adversity. If I get punched, I’m going to get back up. He was just a much better fighter tonight. He was better because he knew how to use his distance a lot better than I thought he was. I’ve got to give him credit for that; using his distance, using his jab and keeping me at bay. I didn’t know he hurt his arm and his hand. I just kept fighting, man. That’s me. I wasn’t even looking at his arm. I didn’t care about his arm. I was worked about not getting punched. I got seven stiches on my right eye. That’s not bothered me. What bothered me was my left eye. Hey, it’s boxing, but the thing is, I’m going to keep pushing. To be honest with you, I want Molina. He said, ‘You coward, you quit.’ Nah, I didn’t quit. Deontay made me quit. My corner was smart enough to keep me from getting hurt or hurting myself. I didn’t quit. All the credit goes to Wilder. He fought the perfect fight. I had to get up in him, but I couldn’t. He kept me at bay with that jab,” said Arreola.
I think it would be a bad idea for Arreola to fight Molina right now because the 6’4” heavyweight has improved a great deal since that loss. Molina gave a much better account of himself in his loss to Wilder last year in losing by a 9th round knockout than Arreola did last night.
Molina staggered Wilder at one point in the fight with a big left hook to the head. Molina is coming off of a 10th round knockout win over Tomasz Adamek in April of this year. Molina also helped Wilder get ready for the Areola fight by sparring with him. Arreola should probably steer clear of Molina right now because this is a bad time for him to take that fight. Arreola needs some confidence boosters before taking on a dangerous puncher like Molina.