By Allan Fox: Super-sized heavyweights Chris Arreola (35-2, 30 KO’s) and Bermane Stiverne (22-1-1, 20 KO’s) will be fighting it out tomorrow night in a scheduled 12 round bout at the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California.
Arreola weighed in at 248 pounds in his weigh-in earlier today. Stiverne, also a wide body heavyweight, came in at 247 lbs. Neither of the guys looked slim, but it’s normal for them to look this way.
By Scott Gilfoid: Irish heavyweight Tyson Fury (20-0, 14 KO’s) says he’s been told by the WBC president Jose Sulaiman that he has first dibs on the winner of the April 27th fight between Chris Arreola vs. Bermane Stiverne to fight to become the mandatory challenger for the WBC heavyweight title held by 41-year-old Vitali Klitschko.
What’s new about this is that Fury had been talking about fighting unbeaten #1 IBF contender Kubrat Pulev to try and become the mandatory challenger for IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko.
By Eric Thomas: The WBC heavyweight eliminator bout between #1 WBC Chris Arreola (35-2, 30 KO’s) and #2 WBC Bermane Stiverne (22-1-1, 20 KO’s) will be taking place next month on April 27th at the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California.
This fight seems almost jinxed after having already been moved twice, you have to wonder if it’ll actually take place next month or not. Having the Arreola-Stiverne fight continually pushed into the future is making it easy for WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko to avoid making a decision about his career.
By Allan Fox: Heavyweight Chris Arreola (35-2, 30 KO’s) is sick with bronchitis and his scheduled March 9th WBC heavyweight eliminator fight against Bermane Stiverne (22-1-1, 20 KO’s) will have to be postponed for five to six weeks, according to Dan Rafael.
The undercard fights will still go ahead as scheduled at The Hanger in Costa Mesa, California. This is the third time that the Arreola-Stiverne fight has been postponed, and it almost seems like the fight itself is doomed in some way.
Arreola got sick last weekend and he’s sick enough to be ready to go by March 9th. The winner of the Arreola vs. Stiverne fight will become the mandatory challenger for WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitachko.
By Allan Fox: Former heavyweight title challenger Chris Arreola (35-2, 30 KO’s) will be fighting Bermane Stiverne (22-1-1, 20 KO’s) on March 9th in a WBC heavyweight title eliminator bout in a fight that will be televised by HBO at The Hangar, in Costa Mesa, California. The winner of the fight will become the mandatory challenger to WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko.
The Arreola-Stiverne winner may not get to fight Vitali because he’s considering retirement, and if he does fight on it’ll likely be against other guys like David Haye. However, the Arreola vs. Stiverne winner will still be in position to fight for the World Boxing Council title at some point in the near future, but it might not take place this year unless Vitali retires.
By Jason Kim: The WBC final heavyweight eliminator bout between Chris Arreola (35-2, 30 KO’s) and Bermane Stiverne (22-1-1, 20 KO’s) is looking WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward suffered a shoulder injury, making it impossible for him to headline the March 2nd fight card against Kelly Pavlik. The Arreola-Stiverne fight was supposed to have been the co-main event on that card, but now they’ll have to find another date and venue.
The Stiverne vs. Arreola fight has had problems since it was put together, as they were supposed to fight in December, but the fight later was moved to January 26th. The Arreola-Stiverne fight was moved to January 26th after Ward injured shoulder. It was later moved to March 2nd, but that’s not going to happen now so it’s hard to tell when the fight will take place.
By Allan Fox: The Andre Ward vs. Kelly Pavlik and Chris Arreola vs. Bermane Stiverne bouts could wind up being moved to March 2nd at the Home Depot Center, in Carson, California, according to Steve Kim. The Arreola – Stiverne bout is currently scheduled for February 23rd at the Galen Center in Los Angeles, California, but it get moved to be put on the undercard of Pavlik-Ward on March 2nd.
WBA/WBA super middleweight champion Ward (26-0, 14 KO’s) injured his shoulder recently while training, and that made it necessary to push back his previously scheduled July 26th title defense against former WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (40-2, 34 KO’s). As long as Ward’s shoulder heals up the March 2nd date could be the one that they end up fighting on, but shoulder injuries sometimes can linger for many months if proper rest and rehabilitation isn’t done.
By Allan Fox: Former heavyweight title challenger Chris Arreola (35-2, 30 KO’s) will be taking on Canadian power puncher Bermane Stiverne (22-1-1, 20 KO’s) on January 26th on the Andre Ward vs. Kelly Pavlik undercard in a WBC semi-final heavyweight eliminator bout at the Galen Center, in Los Angeles, California.
The winner of the Stiverne vs. Arreola could end up with the WBC title if the current champion Vitali Klitschko retires or if the winner of this Saturday’s WBC heavyweight eliminator bout between Tyson Fury and Kevin Johnson decide to go in a different direction.
By Allan Fox: #1 WBC Chris Arreola (35-2, 30 KO’s) and #2 WBC Bermane Stiverne (22-1-1, 20 KO’s) will be facing each on December 15th in a WBC Heavyweight Title Eliminator at a still to be determined venue. The winner of the Arreola-Stiverne fight will become the mandatory challenger to WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko. With Vitali possibly retiring at any time, the winner of the Arreola vs. Stiverne fight could wind up the WBC heavyweight champion in the near future, possibly by early 2013.
That’s kid of a scary thought because both Stiverne and Arreola are far from solid choices to hold down the World Boxing Council title for any length of time unless they’re matched selectively.