Photo/ Jan Sanders-Goossen Tutor – By Sean McDaniel: Chris Arreola (28-1, 25 KO’s) weighed in at 250 at yesterday’s weigh-in, which is Arreola’s best weight for him since the 239 he came in for his win over Chazz Witherspoon in June 2008. On Saturday night, the 29-year-old Arreola will be fighting former light heavyweight and cruiserweight Tomasz Adamek (40-1, 27 KO’s) at the Citizens Business Bank Arena, in Ontario, California. Arreola wanted to come in as light as possible, as he felt that he would have to run Adamek down during the fight.

But in looking at how slender Arreola’s face and body looks, it appears that he has melted down too much weight and possibly taken off too much weight in the process. In looking at before and after photos of Arreola, he looks like someone who was on a severe diet and doesn’t look good. He looks good as far as someone who has taken off weight, but he has a drained look about him that has me remembering a lot of other fighters in the past that have taken off too much weight in melting down to make weight.

In Arreola’s case, he didn’t have to take off weight to make the heavyweight, because they can weigh whatever they want for a fight. Arreola stripped the lard off because he wanted to be quick, but I think he’s made a fatal mistake. He looks far too thin now and he looks like he lost a lot of muscle in taking off the weight. For Arreola to still be weighing 250 after months of training, that tells me that Arreola must have started training in the neighborhood of 280. That’s an insane amount of weight.

Arreola needed to take the weight off slower over a longer period of time and not during training camp. I think that’s the worst possible time to take off a massive amount of weight, because it leaves fighters feeling weak and lethargic come fight time. Arreola has it bad already because he’s fighting Adamek, who will be quicker than him because he’s coming up in weight. Adamek weighed in at 217 at yesterday’s weigh-in and looks in better condition than his last fight against Jason Estrada in February.

Adamek will be the much quicker fighter on his feet and will have the much faster hands as well. Arreola will be getting hit with fast combinations and he’s going to have to be able respond with some big shots if he wants to get respect from Adamek on Saturday night. If Arreola has taken off too much weight, he’s going to get beaten to the punch all night long much in the same way that former WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik was against the quicker Sergio Martinez last weekend.