By Dan Ambrose: The soon to be 34-year-old former world title challenger Chris Arreola (35-4, 31 KOs) will be attempting to turn his sagging career around next month in his fight against an opponent still to be determined on March 13th at the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, Calif.
The fight will take place on a Friday. Arreola, #13 WBC, has lost two out of his last three fights in two defeats against Bermane Stiverne and a victory against Seth Mitchell.
By Allan Fox: #6 WBC Chris Arreola (35-4, 31 KOs) is recovering from elbow surgery that he had to remove some bone fragments and scar tissue that he’d been carrying around for the last several years.
If all goes well with his rehab for his elbow, he should be back in the ring by October, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN.
Arreola, 33, was beaten by Bermane Stiverne on May 10th by a 6th round knockout in a fight for the vacant WBC heavyweight title. The loss temporarily derailed Arreola’s hopes of capturing a title, but not permanently. He plans on getting back in the ring and working his way to another title shot.
(Photo credit: Naoki Fakuda) By Steve Davis: Having just watched the WBC world heavyweight championship from last Saturday night, Bermane stiverne beating Chris Arreola via sixth round stoppage, my heart went out to Arreola, who for me out-boxed his opponent for six rounds until being caught by a hard punch. It also raised the question how has Bermane Stiverne become heavyweight champion.
He reminded me of an eighties heavyweight, a journeyman, fleshy round the middle boxing from the outside, lazy looking, hands held low, throwing mainly single shots. What has the heavyweight division come to, after seeing Alex leapei get a shot at a title, I didn’t think it could get much worse.
By Scott Gilfoid: British fighter David Haye attended last night’s fight between Bermane Stiverne (24-1-1, 21 KO’s) and Chris Arreola (36-4, 31 KO’s) for the vacant WBC heavyweight title at the USC Galen Center, in Los Angeles, California, USA, and Haye says he didn’t see anything in Stiverne’s performance that would suggest that he can beat the WBC mandatory challenger Deontay Wilder (31-0, 31 KO’s) when it comes time for Stiverne to defend against him.
Right now it’s still unknown when Stiverne will take that fight with the 6’7″ Deontay, but he’s going to have to fight him sooner or later or else the WBC will strip him of the title.
(Photo credit: Carlos Baeza) By Scott Gilfoid: It’s looking more and more like the new WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne (24-1-1, 21 KO’s) will be steered around his WBC mandatory challenger Deontay Wilder (31-0, 31 KO’s) for the remainder of 2014. It’s quite possible that Stiverne will elect to take an optional title defense, as his powerful promoter Don King isn’t taking about putting him in with the 6’7″ Deontay.
It doesn’t really matter who Stiverne faces. If it’s not going to be Deontay, then you can bet that it’ll be a safe opponent, and definitely not IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko.
(Photo credit: Carlos Baeza) By Scott Gilfoid: Now that Bermane Stiverne (24-1-1, 21 KO’s) has beaten Chris Arreola (36-4, 31 KO’s) in their rematch, Stiverne has to deal with the difficult task of trying to beat a much bigger, younger, faster, taller and more powerful Deontay Wilder (31-0, 31 KO’s) in the near future. How long it;s going to be before Deontay gets a shot at Stiverne’s WBC title is unknown. That’ll depend on how strict the World Boxing Council are with their rules. However, Deontay sees the short 6’1″ Stiverne as an easy fight for him due to his bad habit of staying on the outside and hanging on the ropes. Deontay feels that there isn’t a more perfect opponent for him to knock out.
“It was the same old Stiverne. It was the same one that I saw in the first fight,” Deontay said to RingTV.com. “It’s going to be an easy fight for me. Not just easy, I’m talking E Z. It’s not going the distance.”
(Photo credit: Carlos Baeza) By Scott Gilfoid: It looks like unbeaten WBC mandatory challenger Deontay Wilder (31-0, 31 KO’s) may have to wait a while before he gets a crack at newly crowned WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne (24-1-1, 21 KO’s), because he has an optional title defense coming according to his promoter Don King. Steve Kim is reporting that King has “made it clear that Bermane Stiverne has an optional defense of the WBC title upcoming.”
If this turns out to be the case, then Deontay will likely have to wait until 2015 before he eventually gets a shot at Stiverne’s WBC title. Additionally, IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko wants to fight Stiverne in a unification fight, and that further will push Deontay’s title shot back as well.
(Photo credit: Tiffany Lam) By Jim Dower: #1 WBC Bermane Stiverne (24-1-1, 21 KO’s) destroyed #2 WBC Chris Arreola (36-4, 31 KO’s) in the 6th round on Saturday night to capture the vacant WBC heavyweight title at the USC Galen Center, in Los Angeles, California, USA.
Stiverne knocked Arreola down twice in the 6th round. The referee Jack Reiss halted the fight with Arreola badly hurt on his feet at 2:00 of the round. The fight was close going into the 6th round, as both guys had fought pretty much on even terms. But in the 6th round, Stiverne caught Arreola with a big right hand to the side of the head that staggered and dropped Arreola on the canvas. After he got to his feet, Arreola was hit with a flurry of heavy head shots that sent sliding down the ropes.
(Photo credit: Goosen Tutor Promotions) By Gav Duthie: Bermaine Stiverne 23-1-1(20) v Chris Arreola 36-3(31) has to be the LEAST inspiring vacant title fight that I can think of in living memory. I just can’t seem to get myself up for it.
When Vitaly Klitschko became champion emeritus (in other words retired) I was excited for the first time in 10 years of heavyweight boredom at the thought of a new champion. The heavyweight division has arguably been dull for 20 years if you count the reign of Lennox Lewis. The WBC could have generated some interest in the division if they thought outside the box. Instead they go route one and order a fight between number 1 Stiverne and number 2 Arreola.
(Photo credit: Tiffany Lam) By Allan Fox: Heavyweights Bermane Stiverne (23-1-1, 20 KO’s) and Chris Arreola (36-3, 31 KO’s) weighed in on Friday for their clash tomorrow night at the Galen Center in Los Angeles, California. Both fighters looked a little flabby which is normal for both guys given their physiques. Arreola weighed in at 239 pounds.
That’s the lowest weight that Arreola has weighed in at since he weighed in at 236 for his 10 round decision win over Friday Ahunanya in July 0f 2011. Arreola looks like he’s worked really hard during training camp, and will possibly do a better job this time than he did in their previous fight in April of last year, a fight which Arreola lost by a 12 round decision.