The charismatic 28-year-old from Riverside is a long shot to beat Vitali Klitschko Saturday. If he wins, he could be just the kind of heavyweight champ boxing needs.
No. 1 ranked Cristobal Arreola, left, and WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko face off at their weigh-in yesterday in Los Angeles. Their fight is scheduled to take place on Saturday. (Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press / September 25, 2009)
By Lance Pugmire
September 25, 2009
Cris Arreola's a big underdog now, just like Cassius Clay was to Sonny Liston all those years ago.
No one is yet forecasting unbeaten Arreola (27-0, 24 knockouts) as the next Muhammad Ali, but in a heavyweight division and sport looking for greater public interest, the 28-year-old from Riverside is trying to become the first heavyweight champion of Mexican ancestry.
"The only guy the general population usually knows in boxing is the heavyweight champion, or a celebrity fighter like Oscar De La Hoya or Sugar Ray Leonard," said HBO boxing analyst Larry Merchant. "I've said for years boxing needs a heavyweight version of Oscar. This is the first guy who's come along to have a shot at being that fighter."
Clearly, an Arreola victory against the taller, more experienced World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko Saturday night at Staples Center is a long shot -- he's a 6-to-1 underdog at Las Vegas sports books -- that has struggled to muster interest from the Los Angeles fight-fan population. About 6,000 seats remain on sale, promoters say.
Merchant assessed the massive Latino boxing fan base as being confused by this newest representative.
"They haven't bought into him yet; they don't know what to think about him because they're used to bantamweights, featherweights and welterweights at the most," Merchant said. "A heavyweight?
"But if he wins, I guarantee you, they'll be waving the Mexican flags and chasing him through the malls."
Arreola, 28, is additionally charged with proving his manhood to the level the most demanding in the audience require. In the most recent Staples fight, for instance, Oxnard's Victor Ortiz was booed unmercifully after surrendering in a sixth-round technical knockout to an Argentinian: "You quit," ringside fans jeered to Ortiz. "You're not a Mexican!"
Arreola "may not have a great resume, but I trust my eyes," Merchant said. "My eyes tell me this guy knows how to fight. He's rough and tough. And who cares if he's been a little heavy over the years. Fernando Valenzuela didn't look like an athlete, either, but millions loved him."
"Trust me," Arreola's promoter Dan Goossen said, "with a victory, the interest in Cris goes through the roof. He wins this, he'll be the biggest story in boxing. Klitschko knew, that's why he took this fight -- not only because we were the mandatory [challenger] but because the attention on Cris is a freight train coming."
Arreola's relentless, heavy-punching style makes for an interesting contrast against the methodical Klitschko. Ukraine's "Dr. Iron Fist" (37-2, 36 KOs) is known for a studious attack that will aim to penetrate any sloppy defensive mistake Arreola may make, saying "This fight's not going the distance."
Wladimir Klitschko, Vitali's brother who'll be in his corner Saturday night, describes Arreola's style as "kill or be killed; Vitali knows it, and he's more experienced than Cris Arreola." Wladimir Klitschko said that experience, along with a more talented corner, are "stones in the water that Vitali can stand on; these are things that make the difference."
On the stage where he weighed in at 251 pounds Thursday -- one pound less than Klitschko -- Arreola also entertained with street-hardened charisma as he poked fun at his own past dietary problems, his driving record and a gloves dispute with Klitschko.
When told Klitschko was insisting that Arreola's gloves were to be weighed before the bout to eliminate any unfair tinkering, Arreola scoffed, "They can do whatever they want. We'll both wear gloves in there. A glove's a glove."
He toyed with the champ by first hiding a large weight vest under his T-shirt and "weighing in" at 272 pounds before laughing and stepping off the scale, stripping off his T-shirt and revealing the weight vest.
"The thing about it is everyone keeps [complaining] about the weight, so I decided I'm gonna have some fun with it," Arreola said off the weigh-in stage. "I wanted to make [Klitschko] believe I'm fat, and then show him, 'You know what? I'm not! I'm in shape!'
"I've worked my butt off for this fight. I've gotten here through hard work, the way you're supposed to do it."
That's the message Arreola has taken to others, visiting a downtown juvenile detention facility recently to urge youths to avoid costly mistakes in judgment and aspire for greatness.
The Times Thursday asked Arreola privately about a driving record that shows a street-racing guilty plea in his Riverside County history, along with a driving under the influence arrest in November 2005 that remains active. A Riverside County district attorney spokesman said court records show Arreola's blood-alcohol level was at and just below the legal limits in sobriety tests, and that a bench warrant was issued after he failed to appear at a 2007 court hearing. That case was then folded in with a February criminal charge of driving with a suspended license and an Oct. 16 court date awaits.
"It's just old, dumb stuff," he said. "It's something that I've learned from."
Seconds later, he told someone else, "All this stuff's," upsetting, so "I'm just going to kick [Klitschko's rear.]"
If a compelling brawl does ensue, Merchant and Wladimir Klitschko agreed in separate conversations it will be good for both fighters.
"Arreola needs that on a big stage," Merchant said.
Said Wladimir Klitschko: "If you do get beat up in a fight and come back, that is fun to watch. But you can't last forever doing that in this sport. Your life will be short, and I know both Vitali and I have plans to stay around long."
Fight notes: Last week's Floyd Mayweather-Juan Manuel Marquez welterweight bout -- won by the larger Mayweather in a one-sided unanimous decision -- generated 1 million pay-per-view buys, HBO announced. That makes Mayweather-Marquez the highest performing boxing pay-per-view event of the year, with $52 million in pay-per-view revenue, and will likely embolden Mayweather's stance to get more than a 50-50 split when his anticipated 2010 showdown with Manny Pacquiao is negotiated. HBO pay-per-view's Mark Taffet said, "Floyd Mayweather has clearly reinforced his standing as a top attraction, and fans are excited about his return to the sport." Mayweather added, "I am truly humbled by the numbers, and I appreciate all of the sports fans who either came to the fight or bought it on pay-per-view. It felt great to be back in the ring and next time I will be even better." . . . Golden Boy Promotions' executive Richard Schaefer said he's crafted a verbal deal for world welterweight champion Shane Mosley to fight Andre Berto in a title unification bout Jan. 30 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. . . . Wladimir Klitschko said he will fight another Goossen fighter, "Fast" Eddie Chambers, in a world heavyweight title bout in March, once Wladimir Klitschko's shoulder recovers from surgery. He said he's interested in staging the fight in the U.S.
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