By Jim Dower: Making a quick return after stopping Nagy Aguilera just two weeks ago, heavyweight contender Chris Arreola (32-2, 28 KO’s) defeated journeyman Kendrick Releford (22-15-2, 10 KO’s) by a 7th round TKO on Friday night at the Reno Events Center in Reno, Nevada.

The fight was mostly dull and one-sided with Arreola plodding around the ring looking to land combinations. Arreola hurt Releford in the 6th with a nice uppercut, causing him to take a knee. Arreola continued to bombard Releford for the rest of the round. In the 7th, Arreola continued to pound away against a tired and beaten Releford, hurting him with another uppercut. Finally, referee Russell Mora had seen enough of the one-way traffic and halted the fight.

It was an okay win for Arreola. He wasn’t as powerful as he used to be, but he weighed only 236 for the fight and the lack weight seems to have taken away from Arreola’s power.

In other action on the card, 39-year-old Tony Thompson (36-2, 24 KO’s) won his fifth consecutive fight in stopping Maurice Harris (24-15-2, 10 KO) in the 3rd round in an International Boxing Federation heavyweight title eliminator bout. The 6’5” southpaw Thompson knocked Harris down in both the 2nd and 3rd rounds of a one-sided fight. Thompson dropped Harris with a mean flurry of shots in the 2nd, and in the 3rd, Thompson put Harris down with a right hook. To his credit, the badly hurt Harris got back to his feet but was hit with a series of hard shots until referee Vic Drakulich halted the fight at 1:51 of the 3rd. With this win, Thompson is in position to once again challenge IBF heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, who already knocked out Thompson three years ago in an 11th round TKO win. It’s likely that Thompson will get knocked out much quicker in a rematch, as he’s slowed since the last time he fought Wladimir.

Undefeated junior middleweight prospect Javier Molina (7-0, 4 KO’s) won a six round unanimous decision over David Lopez (3-6, 3 KO’s). The final judges’ scores were 60-53, 59-54 and 59-54. Molina, a 2008 Olympian for the United States, knocked Lopez down with a right hand in the 1st. Molina then pretty much had his way with Lopez for the remainder of the fight. Lopez did come on a little in the 4th and found it easy to land shots against Molina. This is an area that Molina is going to need to work on – his defense.