This fight came about as the result of David Haye balking at this fight. David Haye has recently signed on to fight Nicolai Valuev for the WBA belt. So in steps the NABF/WBC Continental Americas Champ and #1 WBC Contender Chris “The Nightmare” Arreola. This is one math-up that fight fans have wanted to see for a long time.
Arreola, at 27-0 is fighting the biggest fight of his career. Considering the state of the heavyweight division, it may be the last big fight he will be able to get. In my opinion, Arreola has a better chance at beating Dr. Iron fist than Haye. Vitali can’t dominate the division forever (although it seems like he already did). Vitali is nearing the end of his fighting days, he is on the wrong side of 35. Arreola has youth on his side, and he has the chin to stand and slug it out with the champion.
The only thing that stands in Arreola’s way seems to be himself. It is reported that he is in the neighborhood of 300 lbs. In his last couple of fights Arreola has not had the ideal showing in any of them. He looked sluggish and out of shape. In fact, he has not had a good fight when he weighed in at more than 250 lbs.
If Arreola can somehow drop the weight, he will have a great chance at dethroning Vitali. If not, he will more than likely join the list of underwhelming heavyweights that have put up little of a challenge in recent memory.
