By Dave Lahr: As expected, undefeated number #1 ranked WBC heavyweight contender Chris Arreola (27-0, 24 KOs) obliterated journeyman contender Jameel McCline (39-10-3, 23 KOs) in a 4th round TKO tonight at the Mandalay Bay Casino & Event Center, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Arreola, 28, cornered the big lumbering McCline in the 4th and dropped him to the canvas with a huge left-right combination to the head. The fight was then stopped by referee Tony Weeks when it became clear that McCline, 37, was too hurt to beat the count.
Arreola controlled the all four rounds of the bout, walking the huge 6’6” 271 pound McCline down and drilling him with powerful combinations. McCline tried to fend Arreola off with jabs and occasional quick combinations, but Arreola was unfazed by McCline’s shots and continued to pour in his own huge hooks to the head and body.
I got to give McCline a lot of credit for taking the punishing shots for as long as he did, because he was hit with some enormous shots from the 1st round on. It looked as if McCline was partially assisted by the poor shape that Arreola was in. He looked thick, appearing to be at least 20 pounds heavier than he should have been for the fight.
The extra fat slowed Arreola down with his punches, making him it easier for McCline to pick off a lot of his shots. Not sure why Arreola chose to come into this fight with so much extra fat on him, but it probably has to do with the belief that he may have needed the extra weight in order to compete with the larger McCline.
From the way McCline fought, I think Arreola would have been fine if he had come in at 244 rather than 255, because McCline seemed out of his league in this fight.
In other action in the card, 2008 Olympian super middleweight Shawn Estrada (4-0, 4 KOs) stopped in experienced Omar Coffi (1-2-2) in the 3rd round. Like he usually does, Estrada, 24, bum rushed his opponent from the first round, throwing hordes of nonstop punches without much technique or strategy behind his game plan. Before long, Coffi was sent to the canvas in the opening round.
However, unlike most of Estrada’s opponents to date, Coffi got up and continued fighting for the rest of the round and was able to survive the first. Estrada continued throwing nonstop punches in the 2nd, flailing away at Coffi trying to knock him out in an impressive fashion.
Estrada was able to drop Coffi twice in this round, but still wasn’t able to knock him out. In the 3rd round, Estrada continued with his tough man style of fighting, resulting in the fight being stopped when Coffi’s corner threw in the towel.
I suppose it was a good win for Estrada, although I’d like to have seen a little more technique, and seen him using more skills than just trying to destroy Coffi. Estrada needs rounds above all, and he seems totally focused in knocking all his opponents out in the 1st round, despite being not a particularly big puncher.
I can’t see his style working against better boxers in the super middleweight division like Lucian Bute or Andre Ward. They’d likely pick Estrada apart if he bum rushed them like the way he’s done against all four of his opponents since turning pro.
Unbeaten light welterweight Danny Garcia (12-0, 7 KOs) looked impressive in defeating replacement opponent Humberto Tapia (14-10-1, 7 KOs) by an 8-round unanimous decision. The final judges’ scores were 79-73, 79-73 and 80-72. Garcia, 21, showed good skills, nice combinations and beautiful hooks to the body in getting an easy win over Tapia.
Unbeaten middleweight prospect Craig McEwan (14-0, 9 KOs) destroyed a badly over-matched Alexis Division (16-9, 13 KOs) in a 1st round stoppage in a scheduled 8-round bout. McEwan jumped all over Division and blasted him out with a series of huge body shots followed by parting head shot. Division was badly hurt and unable to get up and beat the count. Referee Robert Byrd stopped the bout at 1:49 of the 1st round.
Undefeated light welterweight Michael Dallas (7-0-1, 1 KOs) outpointed opponent Terrance Jett (4-13-2, 2 KOs) by a 4-round unanimous decision. The final judges’ scores were 40-36, 40-36 and 40-35. The bout was hopelessly one-sided as Dallas controlled the action with combinations and poured it on in the 4th round trying for a stoppage. However, not hard enough of a puncher, Dallas wasn’t able to muster the strength to take Jett out.
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