Los Angeles, CA (November 24, 2008) – On Saturday, November 29, undefeated Cristobal “The Nightmare” Arreola will be taking what he hopes is another step toward a World Heavyweight Championship, when he defends his WBC Continental Americas title against Travis “Freight Train” Walker on the first-ever professional boxing card to be held at the new state-of-the-art Citizens Business Bank Arenain Ontario, California.
And while preparing to do battle with a hard-hitting, world class heavyweight is nothing new for the Riverside, California native with an unblemished 25-0 record including 22 knockouts, being followed around by a world class camera crew was certainly a new experience for the 27-year old Mexican-American knockout artist.
HBO Sports which will televise the Arreola-Walker contest on “HBO: Boxing After Dark” as co-feature to the interim 12-round WBO Super Welterweight Championship Bout between Paul “The Punisher” Williams and Verno Phillips, has developed a series of original human interest short features on eight promising young boxers entitled “Ring Life.” One of the principal subjects is Arreola.
“It was a pretty surreal experience having cameras with you and having to answer all kinds of questions,” Arreola conveyed. “I’m not used to it. I kept asking myself, ‘How did I get here? Is this how it’s gonna be when I’m Heavyweight Champion of the World? Overall it was a pretty cool experience.”
“Chris was extremely cooperative during production,” acknowledged Dan Klein, of Wonderland Productions, which shot the footage for HBO. “He opened up his home to us and took us inside his training. We shot inside Chris’ home, on the horse trails he uses for roadwork, at local restaurants and barbershops, on the road in his car and inside his gym.”
Arreola agreed to participate in the HBO series and allowed full access to his daily routine as he prepared for his biggest fight to date – one in which has Walker’s NABF Heavyweight title at stake and is also being sanctioned as an IBF Heavyweight Elimination bout.
“Whatever Dan (Goossen) says I am good with,” Arreola said. “I don’t question Dan. I know he asked me to do this for my own good. It’s great exposure for me. After being in boxing for 15 years, it’s finally paying off.”
“HBO is interested in profiling up and coming fighters with great back-stories,” explained Thomas Huffine, coordinating producer for this HBO short series. “The goal of this series is to build awareness of the dedication and commitment that these fighters have to realize their dreams.”
Arreola’s story will be portrayed on “Ring Life” in three separate, four-six minute segments narrated by HBO boxing commentator Jim Lampley on tonight, November 24th, December 1st and 8th. These may be seen on HBO digital media platforms including HBO.com (http://www.hbo.com/ringlife/), HBO Mobile, HBO’s YouTube Channel, and as free podcasts via Apple’s iTunes Music Store. Ring Life will also be offered on HBO On Demand as of December.
O’Connor going to “school” each pro fight
FRAMINGHAM, Mass. (November 24, 2008) – Each fight is a learning experience for any young boxer and 2008 U.S. Olympic first alternate Danny O’Connor is no exception. His pro debut in September resulted in a second-round stoppage of Jose Guerrido, but his November 11th win against 15-fight veteran Anthony Woods was much more important in terms of 23-year-old O’Connor’s development process.
O’Connor (2-0, 2 KOs) pitched a shutout against fellow light welterweight Anthony Woods (5-11, 2 KOs), winning all four rounds on each of the three judge’s scorecards (40-35, 40-36, 40-36) at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida.
One invaluable lesson learned by O’Connor is that, when the action doesn’t go exactly according to pre-fight plans, adjustments must be made during the action. “It was an exciting fight to watch,” he said. “We both threw a lot of punches. He’s a tough fighter; game, coming forward throwing punches. So was I. I wanted to show more of my boxing skills than I did in my first fight. I did but not as much as I wanted to because I didn’t settled down, rather looking for a knockout, instead of boxing more. Every fight is a learning experience for me and I’m already applying what I learned from that fight in the gym. I did go four rounds and now I’m used to fighting 3-minute rounds. I can’t wait for my next fight.”
O’Connor, fighting out of Framingham (MA), won this year’s US Future Stars National Championship, in which he was named Most Outstanding Boxer, as well as the National Golden Gloves Tournament, both in the 141-pound light welterweight division. Danny’s most notable victory as an amateur was a dominating performance against eventual 2008 Olympic Gold medalist Felix Diaz, of the Dominican Republic, who O’Connor beat on May 29 in a USA-Dominican Republic dual meet.
Uncertain about the exact date of his next fight, O’Connor is working hard at the 401 Gym in Cranston, Rhode Island with his head trainer, Dave Keefe, who also co-manages Danny with Rob Valle. O’Connor is promoted by Seminole Warriors Boxing.
“Both Rob and I were glad Danny got some rounds in,” Keefe noted. “Seminole Warriors Boxing and our team are on the same page; knocking out everyone doesn’t always yield the best long-term results. These early fights are part of the learning process for Danny.”
For more information about Danny O’Connor go online to www.dannyoconnorboxing.com.
Boxing in North Olmsted: Results -Thompson, Colvin, and Taylor win
Cleveland, OH – November 24, 2008 – The St. Clarence Hall in North Olmsted, Ohio was buzzing with excitement on Friday, November 21st, as Kincaid Godhard Promotions presented live professional boxing. Fans were treated 6 professional bouts and 4 preliminary amateur bouts.
In one of the feature fights of the evening Ryan “The Tank” Thompson from East Cleveland upped his record to (8-6, 6KO) with a 4 round unanimous decision victory over a very game Dione Craig (4-14, 1KO). Thompson battered Craig with a large volume of punches, especially in the last 2 rounds. Thompson is currently on a 3 fight win streak. Craig deserves credit for not only taking the fight on just 1 days notice, but also for fighting with a lot of heart.
In what was the fight of the night, cruiserweight Tanya “The Red Neck Mama” Colvin improved her record to (2-0, 1KO) with a 4 round unanimous decision victory over Elecia “Mega” Battle (3-2, 3KO). Colvin, who had little defense, ate a lot of jabs in the beginning of the fight. But she slowly wore down Battle during the fight with a relentless offense, and was on the verge of a stoppage when the bell sounded to end the fight.
Heavyweight sensation Andres “Taylor Made” Taylor (4-0-1, 1KO) from Johnstown, PA scored 2 knock downs in the first round to take home a 4 round unanimous decision victory over Mike Jones (5-15, 2KO). Jones valiantly fought his way back in to the fight, but could not shake the faster Taylor.
In the opening match heavyweight Justin Riegle (1-0) from Orrville, Ohio scored a split decision victory over Brian Cook (1-2, 1KO) from Nordonia, Ohio, in a spirited bout that could have went either way.
Cruiserweight Rayshawn “The Bully” Myers from Cleveland scored a first round TKO over Jason Williams from Kentucky. Myers used a wild and unorthodox offense to batter Williams for the TKO stoppage. Myers, who started his boxing career with 2 straight losses, moves his record to an even 2-2 with 2KO’s, Williams drops to 1-1.
In what was the fourth heavyweight bout of the night, Jason “Big Daddy” Massie from Cleveland, scored a second round TKO stoppage over Richard Greene from Indiana. Massie stays undefeated at 2-0, 1KO while Greene drops to 1-1.
Preliminary amateur bouts started the evening off and included Brian Park over Dan Jones via third stoppage from body shots, Yondale Evans over Derrick Moss, Kenny Brown over Wilkins Santiago, and Stipe Miocic upped his combined MMA/boxing record to 6-0 (all 6 victory’s via first round stoppage) with a first round TKO stoppage over Christopher Smiley.