By Eric Thomas: Heavyweight contender Chris Arreola (30-2, 26 KO’s) made a statement on Friday night with an impressive 1st round knockout win over Joey Abell (27-5, 26 KO’s) at the Pechanga Resort & Casino, in Temecula, California. Arreola, 29, exchanged shots with Abell in the first minute of action. Arreola then cornered Abell and landed a huge right hand that stunned Abell. Arreola then opened up with a salvo of unanswered shots to the head of Abell that ended with the referee Tony Crebs stepping in at 2:18 of the 1st to stop the fight.

There’s no question that it was a good stoppage because Abell was badly hurt from the big right hand from Arreola that started the exchange and was unable to defend himself as Arreola landed additional shots. After the fight was stopped, Arreola casually walked up to Abell and kissed him on the cheek.

This was a good win for Arreola, because he was coming off of injuries on both hands from his last fight against Manuel Quezada last year in August. Arreola showed a lot of improvement with his speed and the sense of urgency he fought at. In the past, Arreola has made the mistake of fighting at a slow place and just plodding forward. Against Abell, Arreola really went after him and put a lot of pressure on him with constant punches. The southpaw Abell was able to land a lot of right hooks and left hands but Arreola never let them slow him down. He walked through the shots and kept firing right hands and left hooks. Abell was uncomfortable with the pressure from Arreola and kept backing up to keep from getting tagged. Finally, Abell backed up to the ropes and was clobbered by a big right hand from Arreola that snapped Abell’s head straight back. Once he had him hurt, Arreola unleashed a flurry of power shots that had Abell out on his feet at the time of the stoppage.