Photo credit: Jan Sanders/Goossen Tutor Promotions – By Jason Kim: Heavyweight Chris Arreola (28-2, 25 KO’s) tried to explain why he lost his last fight to former cruiserweight champion Tomasz Adamek last April, saying “Mentally, I wasn’t there. I was full of myself. I really believed that I didn’t have to train as hard as I should. I missed a lot of time.” Arreola ended up running out of gas in that fight and losing by a 12 round decision. Strangely enough, Arreola weighed 250 for that bout, and in yesterday’s weigh-in for Arreola’s fight with Manuel Quezada (29-5, 18 KO’s) tonight, Arreola weighed 256, six pounds more than he did against Adamek.

Maybe it’s muscle weight, who knows? But it would be a lot nicer to see Arreola’s weight creeping downwards towards the mid-230s rather than nearing the 260 range. That just makes one wonder how hard Arreola prepared for the Quezada fight. This is a fight that Arreola doesn’t have to worry as much about, because Quezada isn’t in the same class as Adamek or Vitali Klitschko. However, when you’ve lost two out of your last three fights like Arreola has, you can’t really afford to overlook anyone.

Its one thing losing to guys like Adamek and Klitschko, but a loss to Quezada would really be a huge setback for Arreola and would likely push him completely out of the top 15. The Adamek fight was a very winnable fight for Arreola if he had been able to cut off the ring more against Adamek, and have better stamina in the second half of the fight. That’s the kind of fighter that Arreola needs to beat if he wants to get another shot against one of the Klitschko brothers or WBA heavyweight champion David Haye. Arreola can’t have any more fights like the Adamek one if he wants to stay in contention.

Quezada might not have the size, the movement or the power to beat Arreola, but you can’t say that for sure because Arreola has looked so bad against Klitschko and Adamek. And he didn’t even look good in beating smallish heavyweight Brian Minto last year in December in a 4th round TKO win. Arreola was hit a lot in that fight and he weighed a career high of 263. Well, Arreola isn’t far from that number against an arguably better opponent in Quezada. Hopefully, Arreola wins this fight and can get his weight under control. He really needs to get down to below 250, so that his stamina is better that it looked in his last fight.