By Chris Williams: The latest boxing rumors swirling around the net are saying that unbeaten heavyweight Chris Arreola not only is missing some training sessions as he prepares for his September 26th fight against World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (37-2, 36 KOs), but that Arreola also looks fatter than ever in appearance.
Oh boy, I sure hope that’s not the case for Arreola because I’m not liking the ways are going right now. Arreola, 28, might end up as another Kirk Johnson, a heavyweight whose weight shot up 20 pounds to a piggish 260 at the time that he fought Klitschko in December 2003. The end result was that Vitali easily stopped Johnson in the 2nd round as it was never even close to being competitive.
Is the same thing about to happen here? Some people are saying that Arreola is having problems with the pressure. Whether that is true or not, I can say this: If Arreola comes into this fight against Klitschko weighing over 250, he’s finished.
Vitali will destroy Arreola if he comes in that big, because it would likely be a lot of fat on his frame. Arreola isn’t a real muscular guy and is more of a tall cruiserweight who put on 30 to 50 pounds of muscle and fat to become a heavyweight.
Arreola has good power, but underneath all that fat, he’s probably closer to being a strong cruiserweight than an actual heavyweight. This is why it’s worrisome that there is talk about Arreola skipping out on training sessions and possibly coming in at a higher weight than in the past.
I can’t see how Arreola could be bigger than he was in his last three fights because Arreola has weighed in at the mid 250s in each of those fights and looked in bad shape. Arreola won each of the fights, but that’s not saying a whole lot considering his opposition – Israel Carlos Garcia, Travis Walker and Jameel McCline.
In each case, all B level fighters. I imagine Vitali could probably balloon up to 300 and easily beat those guys in a round or two. However, he would be much better off obviously if he were in prime condition. I really hope that the rumors about Arreola’s weight are false, but he was seen by a lot of people and I guess it’s impossible to question them when it’s more than one person making comments about Arreola’s fatness.
This is really bad. Arreola is getting a once in a life time chance at a world title against probably the best heavyweight that Arreola will ever face in his entire career, and if he’s not at the best weight, something along the lines of 235, Arreola is probably going to get drilled into the canvas in a real big hurry.
I don’t care how powerful a puncher he is, Klitschko has a great chin and can probably punch harder without expending a lot of energy. It’s going to be hard enough for Arreola to reach Klitschko’s head with his punches, because Vitali is very good defensively. But to have to deal with an extra 20 to 30 pounds of fat weighing him down will make Arreola’s task of trying to beat Klitschko almost impossible.
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