Chris Arreola Has Nothing to Cry About After Fighting Vitali Klitschko

After Saturday's heavyweight title bout between Vitali Klitschko and Chris Arreola, Arreola cried uncontrollably as his corner threw in the towel in the 10th round. The Mexican-American challenger cried for over 10 minutes from the stoppage, even until Larry Merchant interviewed him.

I personally feel that Chris Arreola has nothing to cry about. He proved to the world that he will stand toe-to-toe and he will not back down or quit. He showed he has one amazing chin and, more importantly, his heart is the size of Riverside county.

I was at the sold out Staples Center arena Saturday and it was like any Vitali Klitschko fight I have been to—an event.

You had a majority Mexican crowd cheering at the top of their lungs and holding up green, white, and red colors representing the Mexican flag. You also saw a significant amount of yellow and blue representing the Ukrainian flag throughout the crowd.

You then had all kinds of people representing the two million-plus population of Riverside county as I saw many people of all ethnic backgrounds wearing Riverside shirts and 951 and 909 shirts, representing the area code for the Inland Empire of California.

I personally scored the fight eight rounds to two for the champion, Vitali Klitschko. Arreola had a good fourth round and eighth round. It seemed whenever Chris had Vitali pinned against the ropes and went on attack to the taller Ukrainian's body, Vitali pretty much just stood there and took the body shots, allowing Chris to score cleanly at will.

Much of the pro-Arreola crowd screamed and cheered whenever Chris threw anything at Vitali, even if it landed on the shoulders or arms. Klitschko just leaned or stepped back to evade most of those shots.

Vitali seemed to be a more mature, disciplined fighter, for he did not go for the knock out early on and gas himself out as he did in so many of his previous fights. Vitali seemed to set up the jab and keep the distance to his advantage for the majority of the fight.

I questioned if Vitali's power is not what it once was, but many of my colleagues felt he was purposely fighting this way to get in more rounds and to actually out box his opponent.

In my eyes, Chris Arreola made a lot of new fans that night. He showed that he will not back up, but come forward as a true Mexican warrior does and as an exciting heavyweight should.

One of the Mexican media columnists told me that whenever a Mexican fighter cries after a fight, then all of the Mexican community embraces him even more, for they feel his pain.

I'm not sure if that is true, but all I know is I am impressed that Chris showed us that he has what it takes to be a force in the heavyweight division and he will not sit on that stool and say, "NO MAS!"