Stiverne vs Arreola - Preview

By Paul Hampton.

Chris Arreola (36-3, 31kos) is one of the nearly men of boxing. At times he has shown the ability to be a real challenger to the top men in the division, however more often than not he has let himself down with poor tactics and poor physical condition. However ahead of his rematch with Bermane Stiverne (23-1-1, 20kos) he knows that he is firmly in the last chance saloon.

Arreola showed his opponent far to much respect in the first fight, Stiverne dominated the first fight over twelve rounds and at the time became the mandatory challenger for, at the time, Vitali Klitschko’s WBC World Heavyweight Title. Since then Vitali has hung his gloves up, meaning that two highest ranked challengers will battle it out for the vacant title.

Stiverne will go in to this fight full of confidence, he was able to hurt Arreola in the first fight and I doubt we’ll see anything different in this one. Arreola, as I said at the start, is a nearly man. Someone who has never quite been good enough to beat the very top guys and the memory of the first fight will not be forgotten quickly.

This is a fight that can grab the attention of even the most casual boxing fan. Both guys can punch and Arreola has the tendancy to stand and trade with his opponents when boxing behind a jab may be the better option, but should he do that against this guy it could be a recipe for disaster.

In my opinion if Chris Arreola is to become the new Heavyweight Champion then he needs to come out of the gates like a machine, forcing the pace and making Stiverne work hard. Everybody knows his stamina is more than just questionable and the longer this fight goes the more it goes Stivernes’ way.

You can bet your life savings on one of the first questions being asked in the post fight interview and press conference is about what comes next. Deontay Wilder is being talked up as the next opponent for the winner of this fight and while it would be fantastic to see the Bronze Bomber in with a live and dangerous opponent, the other man who is undoubtedly going to through his name in to the hat is Wladimir Klitschko. He has said before that he wants to hold all the belts, and even though it would be likely the WBC ask him to vacate their belt, or one of the others, he would still be the first man to unify the heavyweight division fully since Lennox Lewis.

One thing is for sure, if the fight is as heated as the press conference we are in for a good watch. Check out what was said at the press conference below, my prediction for this one though is a late stoppage for Stiverne, probably in the ninth round. I apologise for anyone that is offended by the language used in the video below.




http://v2boxing.com/1/post/2014/05/stiverne-vs-arreola-2-preview.html

I think you're bang on the money there Paul. I like Stiverne and believe that if Arreola doesn't get him out of there early, it's B-ware's fight. I think the only chance the Lumbering Nipple has is if he catches Stiverne cold.

I am also of the opinion that his previous loss to Stiverne will play heavily on Arreola's psychy. It's possible that the uncharacteristic rant by Stiverne has got under Arreola's skin, which could force him to fight the wrong fight. I can see him being picked off and countered, probably dropped at least twice.

If Arreola wins it will only be by KO in rds 1 or 2 - however I think Stiverne's got his number. Stiverne's wins will come later: a TKO in 7 or almost a carbon copy of the first fight with a UD12 with a knockdown or two.

Yee-har!

I've always thought Arreola is a decent HW (relative to being in one of the worst HW eras in history), who hasn't given himself the chance to get close to his potential. He's lost fights that he shouldn't have e.g. against Adamek. That said, Stiverne looked just a little too technical for him last time. Stiverne has good punch variety and mixes things up well. Also seems to have fast-for-a-HW handspeed, especially with tight, close quarters combos.

I'd like to see Stiverne come out this one with a good victory. It would set up a mildly intriguing unification fight against Wlad, which is about as much as you can hope for in the HW boxing today. Although I can't see anything from him yet that suggests he gets inside Wlad's reach.

Both fighters were about 10 pounds lighter than in their last encounter and seem fired up. I make Stiverne a 60-40 favourite.

Big KO win for Stiverne last night. Wilder is his mandatory and Klitschko is trying to jump the line. Both intriguing fights.

TKO6 - I was SO nearly right for once!!

Close but no cigar.  Schoolboy  error. Keep your predictions as vague as possible and then you can wriggle out of them afterwards like  I do

Downside is: Don King lives to fight another day as a world-level promoter.

Purses for this fight were quite poor, Arreola $100k and Stiverne $230k. Stiverne will get a seven figure pay day in his first defence though.

Horrible man, great orator.....just like Hitler. Should get the casual sports fan interested if he reaches world level again.

hampo171 wrote:Purses for this fight were quite poor, Arreola $100k and Stiverne $230k. Stiverne will get a seven figure pay day in his first defence though.

Very poor purses. The fight was in front of 3,500 in a university sports hall. I thought big nips sells the staples centre, I must have got that one wrong, there must have been little to no interest in this fight.

Hasn't fought at the Staples Centre since Vitali Jim, I'll be honest I enjoy Teddy Atlas at ringside. Puts UK summarisers to shame.

Hey thanks for the witter podcast Paul. He wasn't the most talkative guest, but still enjoyed his insight. The whole hatton witter saga coincided with probably my peak of interest in boxing.

Yeah, he started to warm in to it which was good. Certainly not the worst guy we've had on.

Not at all. He has an inside view of British boxing that spans a couple of decades. It's great that you guys have direct access, for me it's the part of this forum that puts it head and shoulders above the beeb.

Which had the odd input from Ben dirs, and the near the recent end the odd input from Gary Lockett. Keep up the good work.

I love Teddy. He's nuts.

Teddy:

"If you go up stairs then you leave the water on in the basement. This switches a light on in the attic".....

Wahhhhhh????