By Dave Lahr: Heavyweight challenger Chris Arreola (27-1, 24 KO’s) has nothing to be ashamed of after a 10th round stoppage loss to World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (38-2, 37 KO’s) last night at the Staples Center, in Los Angeles, California.

Arreola, 28, fought his heart out and would have probably beaten any heavyweight in the planet except for the Klitschko brothers. If this had been David Haye that Arreola was in against, I have doubts that Arreola would have caught up to Haye by the 3rd or 4th round and taken him out. The problem was Vitali Klitschko was just too big for him size-wise and he used his movement skillfully to avoid getting hit by Areola. It’s as simple as that.

When Arreola would get close enough to punch, Vitali often grabbed him in a clinch and would take away Arreola’s opportunity to land punches. But the sheer size differences between the two fighters seemed to be telling factor in the fight.

At 6’8″, Vitali is hard to hit because he leans away from punches making it difficult to make contact. All night long, Arreola threw bombs, but Klitschko has this uncanny ability to lean just enough to make the punch miss by a matter of inches. Most of the time, Klitschko never even raised his guard to try and block the shots and would keep his hands down by his waist like Muhammad Ali used to do.

This fight wasn’t about Arreola not being a good fighter. It was about Vitali just being so much better than him, and all the other heavyweights in the division. Make no mistake, Arreola is the third best heavyweight on the planet but Vitali and his brother Wladimir are on another level in terms of talent.

Arreola gave it his best shot to try and become the first Mexican heavyweight champion in the history of boxing but he came up short after his trainer stopped the fight following the 10th round. Arreola by then had taken a ferocious beating by Klitschko, which had bloodied Arreola’s nose and turned his face a dark red. Each round was punctuated by Klitschko hammering Arreola with straight rights, left hooks, and a whole mess of jabs.

Arreola really never had a chance. In most rounds, Arreola was lucky to land one or two good shots, but his punches had no effect on Klitschko’s steel chin. If anything, Vitali would look annoyed when he was hit and would return fire with big right hands, driving the big 251 pound Arreola backwards.

Arreola continued to come forward despite the terrible beating he was taking. In the 9th and 10th rounds, the fight started to get really out of hand as Arreola was no longer doing much of anything and was just getting hit cleanly with one big right hand after another. The referee watched the action closely in the 9th round, following Arreola back to his corner after the round ended to get a close look at him.

There was no quit in Arreola, though, and he came flying off his stool in the 10th just like he did in every other round of the fight. He wasn’t going to let Klitschko stop him or knock him down. The only way the fight was going to be stopped was either the referee or his corner.

As it turns out, his corner finally stepped in after the 10th round and pulled the plug on the fight. This caused Arreola to come unglued, crying uncontrollably. It was hard to sit and watch how this great fighter was taking the loss. He had nothing to be ashamed off because the way he fought, like I said, there were only two fighters on the planet that could have beaten him and both of them are bothers.

After the fight, Klitschko said “He [Arreola] Will be Heavyweight Champion.” Klitschko was very impressed with Arreola’s determination, his ability to take a punch and his power.