I simply can not get rid of the image of journeyman heavyweight Travis Walker (31-3, 25 KOs) seriously hurting and dropping Chris Arreola 
(27-0, 24 KOs) in the second round of their fight late last year. Sure, Arreola showed great heart in recovering and stopping him in three, but Walker ain’t no Vitali Klitschko (37-2, 36 KOs). If Arreola’s struggles against the 6’5" Walker are any indication, he has no chance against the 6’7" Klitschko.
Klitschko has edges in the chin department, level of competition, conditioning, defense, footwork, hand speed, power, ring generalship and overall size and strength. The only thing that Arreola has going for him is that the fight takes place in his hometown of Los Angeles, California. That surely will not be enough.
I am not looking for any "props" for predicting this fight. However, I do want my just due if Klitschko stops Arreola in round eight by way of an overhand right. After Floyd Mayweather’s expected destruction of the undersized Juan Manuel Marquez, it looks like we have another big fight mismatch in store.
Manny Pacquiao vs Miguel Cotto can not come soon enough.
i totally agree with your expectations for the outcome of this fight however, wouldn’t be a breath of fresh air if arreola would win? What I’m saying is that klitschkos are so superior to the their heavyweight counter-parts that no one wants to see the fight anymore. Other than the brothers fighting each other(which they vowed never to do) there is totat boredom in that division. Man ” would I like to see arreola (as out matched and out classed as he is)win this thing opening the door for some truley competitive heavy weight bouts again. Even if gets lucky and scores a ko, I don’t see him holding on to the title long but “welcome back competitive heavy weight boxing” !
@jabbo, you are so right here. the only problema, arreola ain’t gotz no chance. lol if it were wladimir, then maybe, because he’s proven he can get his world rocked by short, hard-punching guys (Peter, Brewster)…but Vitali is a different animal.
What a joke! Arreolla is useless. This might sound a little harsh, but given the state of heavyweight boxing, it is realistic. For this guy to be a contender is unbelievable. He has no athletic ability or agililty, he fights head on and doesn”t move his head. He has no boxing skill, and no ability to switch to a plan b. Klitchko was able to stick and move all night long. Arreola had to chase him down and put the retreating Klitchko under constant pressure- he didn’t. He simply didn\’t throw punches. Klitcho was the first to the punch every time.
This does not mean that Klitchko was that good. Infact, seeing this, I can imagine Haye embarasing Klitchko. Everyone that Klitchko fights plods in and waits to be jabbed. Haye would put constant pressure on Klitchko, terorising him into running away and looking amateur- I\’m convinced of that. No one actually fights Klitchko, they just wait to get hit. It\’s a joke. Chris Byrd had boxing ability, he worked the angles with agility and imagination and won. Klitchko fights slow plodding heavyweights and comes out a winner, he fights Haye, he loses in style. I’m so sure that I’ll be putting a huge bet on it when the fight eventually comes off.
As an aside, why not get Mighty Mo of K1 fame to fight Areolla? A battle of the fatties. My money would be on the Hawaiian!
@Ben Finesilver
That’s a bit harsh about Arreola and Vitali but the truth probably lies somewhere in between. Vitali is very good (not great), but IS GREAT at using his size and reach to his advantage. So much so, that he’s rarely been troubled in the ring. Some of that is piss-poor competition but a lot of that is very good Vitali. Arreola had a very competent amateur background as well as good fighting heart, but other than that, you’re pretty fair to say that he’s limited in natural talent as well as in the important areas of conditioning and fitness. I don’t think Haye would have the chin to stand-up to Vitali, but it’s the heavyweight fight I’d most want to see, outside of Haye vs Wladimir.
Perhaps I wet a bit over the top Ja! I’m just SO bored of watching the same boring slow opponent, with no boxing brain fight against Dr. Klitchko again and again and again BORING! I was literally screaming at the television screen “throw a punch you fat dude, come on man what’s wrong with you? Ariba!”
Sure Areolla, and just about everyone else that fights Vitali, have the size and reach disadvantage- but you can overcome it with heart and determination- something I’ve yet to see in any of his opponents- get stuck in, don’t just wait for your head to be jabbed! Areolla was just waiting to get hit, I think he landed 86 punches in the fight- a mighty 7 per round!
If someone is jabbing your head, rush them and work on the inside. Grab them, maul them, fight dirty, whatever-don’t just be a punch bag. Something also has to be said for the trainers/corner men of these fighters. It’s plain obvious how to fight Klitchko- you have to put him under constant pressure and suffocate him. Perhaps easier said than done, but you have to have talent and athletic abilty to do so. Perhaps you take a few, but you walk through and maul him, so that he can’t run. As for the chin of Haye, I don’t think it would come down to that. Mark my words, Haye will evade his punches and be in Klitchko’s face every round.
I totally respect your opinion Ja, you have a great site and I agree with your observations. However, regarding the chin issue, Chris Byrd survived and won. A naturally smaller guy than Haye. To me Vitali doesn’t use his body to the full in his punches. Sure he has an awesome jab, but most of his KOs are stoppages: walk through or evade the sublime jab and he only has a pawing left hook/jab type of a punch left in his arsenal-have you ever seen him throw an uppercut or overhand right? I also think he looks a bit awkward at times with his punches when having to move. Against a faster more evasive/aggressive fighter, he won’t be able to plant his feet and put the same mechanics into his jab. When he has to move, he kind of leans backwards and shuffles/topples to the side to give himself space to manufacture/invent a punch. My 2 cents anyway!
Just a thought. Maybe Tim Witherspoon or Larry Homes should get back into the mix. Better still, let’s wheel out a 400lb George Foreman with zimmer. Let’s hope Haye’s next T-shirt is a good one.
You don’t like Vitali, heh? 🙂 I agree that he’s boring, but he and his brother our cooly effective. Let’s also state the Byrd fight for what it was – he (Byrd) was getting handled and then Vitali incredulously gave up when his shoulder gave out. The only time he was ever really battered was against an out of shape Lennox Lewis, and I had him winning that fight at the time of stoppage! The only major criticism I have of Vitali is his long layoffs, nagging injuries and the fact that he didn’t get a shaky version of Lennox outta there, when lesser fighters had done so in the past (McCall and Rahman). That being said, stop hatin’ on the man! lol Forget Tim, what about Chazz? 🙂