Photo: Pavel Terekhov – By Ken Barrett: Chris Arreola took to the scales at yesterday’s weigh in at the Staples Centre, in Los Angeles, CA, officially weighing in at 251 pounds for this Saturday’s anticipated WBC heavyweight title fight. The challenger came in at only one pound lighter than his comparatively taller opponent, reigning champ, Vitali Klitschko (252 pounds). Although Arreola has shown a slight improvement in weight, it is still a worrying thought to his fans who will be hoping for Arreola to make history by becoming the first Mexican American heavyweight champion.

“The Nightmare”s problems with his fluctuating weight are no secret, having shown vulnerability in his fight with Travis Walker being tagged and decked in the first round, having looked lethargic early on, en route to a third round TKO victory in a bout where he weighed an unimpressive 254 pounds.

This was followed by a fourth round KO victory over faded former heavyweight contender Jameel McCline who was grossly out of shape and looked more interested in picking up a paycheck than getting up from the knockdown and taking the fight to Arreola. Again Arreola was overweight at 255 pounds.

I had thought for the young contender’s most important fight thus far that he would have trained harder to shift the pounds, taking example from heavyweight Eddie Chambers who weighed in at a career low of 208 1/2 pounds for his last fight, an upset decision victory over then undefeated and touted Alexander Dimitrenko where Chambers dominated throughout only to get a majority decision from the judges. Such a drastic weight cut would be unlikely for Arreola, however he has weighed in as low as 233 pounds as a professional.

Coming in at the low 240’s would also have been an encouraging sign but Arreola may have worsened his already low chances of winning and unless Vitali grows old overnight I wouldn’t hold out on a new champion being crowned this Saturday however Chris still has the intangible in power against Klitschko, whether or not he will be effective with it remains to be seen.

As it stands I see Vitali dominating the fight with his superior height and reach, not giving Arreola a chance to get off with his punches. Arreola’s weight and lackluster defence will work against him and result in the referee mercifully stopping the bout in rounds 8 to 10 with a brave Arreola still trying to fight on.

Im still looking forward to see if Chris can prove me wrong this Saturday in what is one of the most interesting heavyweight title bouts in the last few years.