By John F. McKenna (McJack): It appears that Chris “The Nightmare” Arreola (31-2, 27 KO’s) is finally taking his craft seriously. Chris came in at a slimmed down 234 lbs last Saturday night for his fight with Nagy Aguilera (16-6, 11 KO’s) at the Home Depot Center in LA. Arreola has a huge fan base in LA because of his exciting style of fighting and he enjoys fighting there.

The now serious Arreola scored a third round TKO over Aguilera, moving around much quicker than boxing fans had seen him before and throwing many combinations. Arreola was the aggressor from the outset and did a good job of cutting off the ring against Aguilera. In the 3rd round the referee intervened to stop the fight with Nagy defenseless against the ropes. Chris was not the least bit winded after throwing a lot of punches in the fight. Arreola said that this was only his 2nd fight after he began to take things seriously and that his new found diligence will continue with him returning to the gym on the Tuesday following the fight. This is quite a change from the Chris Arreola that we had come to know and at thirty years old he has time to turn things around.

One of the questions boxing writers and fans are asking is would he have been more competitive in his fight with Vitali Klitschko and would he have won the fight with Tomasz Adamek with his new found work ethic? Some people, this writer included, were concerned that Arreola had lost too much weight too quickly, but he showed quickness and power in his destruction of Aguilera. Arreola said that the loss to Adamek really bothered him and he felt that he gave the fight away by not showing up in shape. The loss to Adamek may have been the motivating factor in Chris now taking things seriously.

Arreola realizes that he is going to have to fight his way back into contention and that a title fight is not going to be on the horizon unless he earns it. A win against a contender would elevate “The Nightmare” back into the forefront of those seeking a title shot.

Arreola, anxious to get back into the ring quickly, will be facing Kendrick “The Apostle” Releford (22-14-2, 10 KO’s) in the main event on May 27 at the 6,000 seat Reno Events Center. The fight will be shown live on ESPN 2 at 9pm ET/ 6pm PT. Arreola said that he needs to fight on a frequent basis to stay focused on his boxing career. He also said that he wanted to stay in shape because he was tired of showing up at press conferences with dark glasses on to hide the black eyes and lumps.

What Chris has going for him is his knockout power and his crowd pleasing style of fighting. He loves to fight and his fans love watching him fight. As a Mexican/American Chris Arreola has the potential to be a “crossover” star in boxing. That is he is very popular in the Mexican/American community but has the ability to cross ethnic lines with his personality. This has not been lost on promoters who are always looking for an American fighter to take on the Klitschko’s. With Vitali Klitschko rapidly closing in on forty years old and Vladimir Klitschko recently celebrating his thirty fifth birthday, time is on Chris Arreola’s side. He needs to continue to do what he is doing and work on improving his boxing skills and technique.

When Chris fought Vitali Klitschko in September of 2009 he was undefeated with a (27-0, 24 KO’s) record. He evidently thought at the time that he had a pretty good chance at dethroning Klitschko. The fight was held at the Staples Center in LA and drew some pretty good television ratings. If Arreola is able to fight his way back into contention and he lands another title shot he will obviously step into the ring in much better shape than he was in on September 26, 2009. Could he apply enough pressure to defeat either of the Klistchko’s? It is a stretch to think he can defeat Vitali Klitschko. Great champions, even in the twilight of their careers have a way of being more dominant in rematches. Hopefully With what Arreola has learned, he will fulfill his promise as a fighter.