By Charles Brun: Eddie Hearn says he would like to match the recently beaten Dereck Chisora against former three-time heavyweight world title challenger Chris ‘The Nightmare’ Arreola for his next fight.
If this fight happens, there’s an excellent chance that Arreola scores a knockout of Chisora and sends him into retirement.
It’s questionable whether British boxing fans would be willing to purchase tickets to see Chisora fight Arreola. UK fans were willing to pay to see Chisora fight live in the UK in his last three fights because he was facing top-tier relevant heavyweights in Joseph Parker and Oleksandr Usyk.
Will Chisora vs. Arreola sell?
Fans might not be willing to pay to see Chisora fight the washed-up second-tier fighter Arreola because he’s been on the slide since 2013.
Hearn states that he wants 37-year-old Chisora (32-12, 23 KOs) to fight an opponent he would be favored to defeat for a change, and he feels that the soon-to-be 41-year-old Arreola (38-7-1, 33 KOs) would be the ideal fight.
Arreola is coming off a 12 round unanimous decision loss to Andy Ruiz Jr. last May in Carson, California. That was Arreola’s first fight in almost two years since his loss to Adam Kownacki in August 2019.
Compared to Chisora’s poor performance against Parker, Arreola looked pretty good in dropping Ruiz in the second round and giving him something to think about throughout the contest.
Hearn expects Chisora to be the favorite
Eddie Hearn thinks that Chisora would be the favorite against Arreola, but Charles Brun disagrees. Arreola will likely be the favorite because he’s still fighting on a higher level than Chisora by far.
For example, in Arreola’s fight with Adam Kownacki in 2019, he threw over 1000 punches. Chisora isn’t capable of even throwing even a quarter of that number. If Arreola bounces 1000 shots off Chisora’s grill, he’s likely to drop him repeatedly.
Of course, Arreola drops Chisora; he’ll finish him on the spot because he DOES have the killer instinct, even at his advanced age. He’s not going to watch Chisora stroll over to the corner to defend from that vantage point after hurting him the way Parker did. Chisora will be attacked by Arreola as soon as he gets back to his feet, and he’ll never get the opportunity to stagger to the corner.
‘The Nightmare’ Arreola hasn’t won a fight since his stoppage victory over Jeanpierre Augustin in March 2019.
Chisora lost to former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker by a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision in a headliner fight on DAZN last Saturday night at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.
Arreola is a great finisher
Parker, 29, who started to look faded himself, dropped Chisora three times in the fight and had him close to being knocked out in the ninth.
If Parker had better stamina and the killer instinct, he would have finished Chisora off by the fourth round because he looked like an old man out inside the ring.
Although Chisora’s age is 37, he seemed a fighter in his mid-40s, and it was disturbing to watch, especially when he would get up off the canvas and slowly walk to one of the corners in a last stand type of situation.
What was interesting was how Parker didn’t jump on Chisora. It was as if Parker had no sense.
Chisora will pretty much have no choice but to retire after a loss to Arreola because this isn’t a first-tier fighter he would be losing to.
Boxing fans have given Chisora a pass for losing to the elite-level heavyweights’ Parker and Usyk, but they won’t do that if he gets beaten by Arreola because that guy is no longer in his prime.
If Arreola is the best that Hearn can come up with for Chisora to fight next, he’s got to know that he’ll be putting his Dereck in a position where he can’t afford to lose.