Against Vitali Klitschko, Cris Arreola Was His Own "Nightmare"

WBC World Heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko successfully defended his title with a 10th round TKO of promising contender Cris “Nightmare” Arreola Saturday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

From the outset, Klitschko (38-2, 36 KOs) controlled the tempo of the fight and quickly erased any hopes the crowd had that Arreola, 28, from nearby Riverside, Calif., could compete with “Dr. Iron Fist.”

Klitschko, 38, utterly dominated the action, and the gory contest was mercifully halted before the start of the 11th round when Arreola’s trainer refused to allow him to continue.

“He was taking too much punishment,” trainer Henry Ramirez said of Arreola (27-1, 24 KOs), who had his nose broken in the 9th round. “When I told him I was going to stop the fight he was irate.”

The judges at ringside all had Klitschko in complete command of the matchup and the Associated Press had the Ukrainian giant winning every round.

“I know I was hurting him a lot but he has a great, great chin,” said Klitschko, the owner of the highest knockout percentage (92.5%) of any heavyweight champion in history.

Klitschko, a 5-1 favorite, landed an astounding 301 of the 802 punches that he threw.

“I couldn’t get to him,” said Arreola, the winner of the 2001 National Golden Gloves as a light-heavyweight. “He was fighting the fight he was supposed to fight.”

One of the reasons that Arreola “couldn’t get to” Klitschko is because it was evident from the moment that he entered the ring that he was in hideous physical condition.

Granted, Arreola displayed tremendous heart and grit Saturday night and he does have a litany of potential as a prizefighter.

Nevertheless, it is unacceptable for a professional fighter to resemble Roseanne Barr.

Klitschko is a very solid pugilist and there is no dispute that he is a gifted physical specimen.

In order for Arreola to have had any legitimate chance to defeat Klitschko, he needed to come prepared in peak condition.

Unfortunately, he may have ultimately been his own worst “nightmare.”

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