By Dave Lahr: This Saturday night, two of the best heavyweights in the world clash at the Staples Center, in Los Angeles, CA, when World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (37-2, 36 KO’s) defends his title against the talented Chris Arreola (27-0, 24 KO’s), his number #1 mandatory challenger.

This is going to be one of the few times that the big 6’7” Klitschko is facing an opponent that is nearly the same size as him. Arreola is 6’4”, and standing next to Klitschko, there’s very little difference in their height. This is going to be a fight where if Vitali wants to win, he’s going to have to earn the victory by being able to earn it by beating the big 250 pound Arreola in the trenches.

Klitschko, now 38, would much prefer not getting his hands dirty in beating Arreola. But that’s not going to happen in this fight because Arreola is a much higher class of fighter than what Klitschko has been in against for the past six years.

Indeed, I can’t find one opponent other than Lennox Lewis, that is comparable to the talent, size and power that Arreola will be bringing into the ring this Saturday night. Corrie Sanders, a Southpaw South African with good size and great quickness, is probably the best fighter that Klitschko has been in with during the past six years.

However, Sanders was old, out of shape and on the slide by the time that Klitschko fought. Still, Sanders came close to knocking Vitali out in the 1st round and had him hurt after connecting with a big left hand. Arreola has everything that Sanders had going for him, but it a much younger fighter with better stamina than Sanders.

I can see that being a problem for Klitschko, mainly because Arreola will still be there fighting hard long after Klitschko begins to tire in the fight. With Klitschko’s advanced age and history of injuries, he can’t afford to be in a long protracted battle without wearing or breaking down under the strain.

This is exactly what I see happening in this fight. Klitschko will look reasonably good in the first three rounds but will start to fade by the 5th round and begin to take a lot of heavy shots from Arreola in the second half of the fight.

For those who point to Arreola’s weight and see it as a limiting factor for him in this fight, I think their going to be sadly disappointed when Arreola shows that he’s quite nimble on his feet regardless of what weight he comes into for the fight. Arreola carries his weight well and is not slowed down by it. Klitschko may be in for a big shock when he finds out that Arreola has better stamina than the majority of his previous opponents, including himself.

It’s true that Arreola has faced mostly limited competition up to this point in his career, but it doesn’t matter. Arreola proved himself against several good B class opponents, beating Chazz Witherspoon, Travis Walker and Jameel McCline, dominating each of these fighters. I doubt that Vitali would do a better job against these fighters than Arreola did, as he stopped each of them before the 6th round. That speaks for Arreola’s talent.