By Dimond Dallas: The best thing that most people will say about Chris Arreola (35-3, 30 KO’s) is that he has always been so close to actually being a legitimate top tier heavyweight, but upon closer scrutiny I have always felt that he has never been close enough to justify that and he has never been fair to his own talent and potential.
I remember in the late 2000’s when Chris Arreola’s star was on the rise and he was touted by everyone as the next big thing in boxing, the Knockout sensation from America and they guy who everyone thought was going to be that mythical American Heavyweight who ushers in a new era of American dominance in heavyweight boxing. However, even his ardent of supporters back then ended their praise with the assessment that all he needs to do is loose some weight, get into shape and then he’s ready to step up to the big league.
Arreola eventually did step up to the big league and had a fight set up with WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko in 2009, and the general consensus was that he might just be the toughest opponent for Vitali since Lennox Lewis and the only thing that he needs to do is to get his conditioning right and show up in good shape, which he didn’t. Arreola got out-classed by Vitali and although I personally don’t feel his weight was the only reason for him loosing to Vitali it was still a significant reason behind making him not-as-competitive as he otherwise might have been had he had showed up with better conditioning.
When Arreola took on Bermane Stiverne last Saturday, he should have known what was on offer; what was on offer was another shot at glory, a huge payday and an opportunity at redemption. He was the favorite going into this fight and Stiverne was the underdog. Arreola was expected to come out on top if he showed up in shape and ready to fight. Although he showed up with every intention to fight, he was once again not in the shape that he needed to be in.
Since 2009 almost 4 years have gone past and now it’s just disappointing to see that neither Arreola nor his team have been able to address this. They said that Arreola was carrying some extra weight but to be brutally truthful, he wasn’t. Stiverne was carrying some extra weight, but what Arreola had on him was just extra fat.
Arreola might go back down a few pegs and his talent and skills will help him rack up all the wins that he wants against tier-2 and tier-3 competition, but until and unless he either makes some personnel change in his team or gets someone new in his camp that gets his conditioning issues sorted out he will always struggle against top tier competition, whether its champions like the Klitschkos or genuine heavyweight contenders like Tomasz Adamek before or Bermane Stiverne now.
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