Chisora = a smaller, weaker Arreola? Vitali is going to breeze through this fight

By Boxing News - 01/04/2012 - Comments

Image: Chisora = a smaller, weaker Arreola? Vitali is going to breeze through this fightBy Scott Gilfoid: My first reaction when I learned that WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (43-2, 40 KO’s) was going to face the smallish fringe contender Dereck Chisora (15-2, 9 KO’s) next on February 18th was one of shock and disbelief.

At the time that Vitali hand-picked the 6’0” Brit, Chisora wasn’t even ranked in the top 15 by any of the sanctioning bodies in the heavyweight division. In other words, Vitali had to comb through the 2nd tier ranks to pick Chisora out for his next fight at the Olymphialle, in Munich, Germany. Of course, it didn’t take long for the World Boxing Council to give Vitali the cover he needed by ranking Chisora #15 to barely make him suitable opponent for a title shot.

But that still doesn’t make any difference. This fight is still a horrible mismatch of the first order. I basically see Chisora as a smaller, weaker, less active and less exciting version of Chris Arreola. To me, Chisora is like the British version of Arreola. A watered down Arreola after all his best traits has been siphoned out. Two years ago Vitali did a number on Arreola, beating him like an old drum en route to stopping him in the 10th round.

It wasn’t that Arreola wasn’t trying. God knows, Arreola worked his backside off trying to land his shots against Vitali. The problem was Vitali just had too much size for Arreola to each him with any consistency. The 6’4” Arreola wasn’t tall enough to land his shots because of Vitali’s tendency to lean back and throw arm shots.

Vitali’s long arms were able to keep Arreola from getting close enough to land anything. So it makes sense that if the 6’4” Arreola with his bigger power and higher work rate can’t land against Vitali, then how can a much smaller, weaker and less active puncher like Chisora do that against Vitali?



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