By Eric Thomas: According to Fight News, IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (52-3, 46 KOs) may be fighting American Chris Arreola (26-0, 23 KOs), the number #4 ranked heavyweight in the IBF, in April or possibly May 2008, with the fight likely to take place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Wladimir, 32, recently defeated challenger Hasim Rahman by an easy 7th round stoppage on December 13th. Rahman stepped in as a replacement opponent for Wladimir’s #1 mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin (16-0, 12 KOs), who Wladimir was supposed to have fought on October 25th.
Unfortunately, Povetkin suffered a foot injury, tearing ligaments in his left foot while training and was unable to fight Klitschko. Still, if Wladimir fights Arreola in April or possibly May, he’ll have to face Povetkin by September 13th or risk being stripped of his International Boxing Federation title.
If Arreola comes in shape and prepared to fight, he can give Wladimir a lot of trouble. At 6’4”, Arreola has the size and power to take the weak-chinned Wladimir out. Arreola is fighting at his best right now, and clearly a level above Wladimir’s recent competition, Rahman, Tony Thompson, Sultan Ibragimov and Lamon Brewster.
Indeed, this would be a fight where Wladimir could find himself in a real battle if he’s not able to keep Arreola, a heavy pressure fighter, off of him. Arreola’s style of fighting is similar to a younger version of Brewster and Ross Purity, two fighters that stopped Wladimir by wearing him out with constant pressure.
The unbeaten Arreola, 27, is coming off a recent 3rd round stoppage of knockout artist Travis Walker in November. Arreola fought reasonably well, although he seemed to make a big mistake in rushing out quickly and trying to overpower the 6’4″ 250 Walker in the 1st round. As a result, Arreola, looking heavy, weighing a portly 254, was hurt by a couple of big right hands from Walker.
In the 2nd round, Arreola continued to try and trade punches with Walker, and was hurt after getting hit with two huge rights from Walker and sent to the canvas. Arreola got up, and quickly dropped Walker with some solid right hands to the head near the end of the round. Walker, very hurt, went back to his corner where they tried feverishly to get him ready for the next round.
In the 3rd, Arreola went after a still hurt Walker, tagging him with a big left hook that dropped him in his corner on his back. The fight was then stopped at 0:13 of the round. While it was an impressive display of grit and determination on Arreola’s part to get up from the 2nd round knockout to finish Walker, it showed Arreola’s weakness, namely his tendency to try and trade punches with his opponents much too often, as well as his poor defense. Additionally, his weight, 254, was too heavy for him, perhaps 20 pounds too much. Yet, poor defense and weight issues or not, Arreola is still perhaps the best heavyweight that America has to offer at this point.
Wladimir toyed with his last opponent, Hasim Rahman, defeating him in the 7th round in a completely one-sided fight on December 13th. Rahman looked overweight, slow and not really into the fight. For the first four rounds, Wladimir jabbed Rahman from a distance, occasionally hitting him with short left hooks. In the 5th, Wladimir cut Rahman over the right eye with some big shots to the head.
Rahman, by this point, was rarely throwing anything back and just taking punishment. In the 6th, Wladimir sent Rahman to the canvas after nailing him with some powerful left hooks. Rahman continued to take big shots for the remainder of the round, and it was only because Wladimir’s cautiousness that he survived until the end of it. In the 7th, Wladimir finished Rahman off at the start of the round, letting loose with a volley of shots, and leading to referee Tony Weeks to step in and stop the fight at 0:44 of the 7th.
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