Chris Arreola and Manuel Quezada Are Out of Excuses

Added on Aug 13, 2010 by Brian Blake in

Boxing

Tonight heavyweight prospect Cristobal Arreola looks to get back in the win column as he takes on a fellow Southern Californian and Mexican heavyweight pugilist in Manuel Quezada, in the televised main event of ESPN’s Friday Night Fights at the Citizens Bank Business Arena in Ontario, California.

“I know that we’ve had a handful of Mexican heavyweights that have tried to establish themselves as world champions and been unsuccessful. But I don’t believe we’ve ever had two fighting each other at any level. So I think in that regard, a lot of history is going to be made on August 13th, but more importantly, and unfortunately in our sport, one or two losses can certainly damage a fighter’s career, so a lot is at stake here,” stated the always loquacious Dan Goossen who serves as President of Goossen-Tutor Promotions.

After going undefeated in his first 27 bouts as a professional prize fighter, Chris “The Nightmare” Arreola (28-2, 25 KOs), suffered his first defeat as he challenged Vitali Klitschko in September of last year for Klitschko’s WBC Heavyweight Title. The bout would be called to a halt by referee Jon Schorle after the tenth round and go to the scorecards where Klitschko would get the nod in a lopsided unanimous decision. A highly emotional Arreola vowed to return quickly and better than ever.

He lived up to his word returning to the ring in a little over two months after his initial bid at a world title as he scored a TKO in the fourth round against contender Brian Minto at the Boardwalk Hall in New Jersey. Despite not spending much time away from the gym in his brief respite, Arreola tipped the scales for the bout at a career high 263 lbs. With Arreola being touted throughout his career as a highly skilled but undisciplined fighter it didn’t inspire much confidence in The Nighmare’s commitment to completely rededicate himself to his craft.

Five and a half months following his win over Minto, Arreola returned to the squared circle to take on Polish powerhouse and former Cruiserweight champ, Tomasz Adamek. Arreola weighed in at just a touch over 250, the lightest since his 2008 win over Chazz Witherspoon. Arreola came up short in his 12 round bid for the IBF International and NABO heavyweight straps as judge Tony Crebs scored the bout even at 114-114 while judges Joseph Pasquale and Barry Druxman scored it 117-111 and 115-113, respectively, giving Adamek the majority decision.

Having dropped 2 out of his last 3 fights, Arreola is looking forward to getting back in the ring to show the boxing world that he has finally made the necessary changes to his game in order to put himself in serious contention for the title that has eluded him.

“You know, I’m just happy to be fighting again. But, I know this is Manny’s Super Bowl. This is his big fight. I’m sure he’s going to train his ass off to try to knock my block off, but I know what I have to do to win. And the only person (I can beat) is myself, and I’ve done that (two times already), and I’m tired of beating myself,” explained Arreola during a recent teleconference.

He adds, “my promoter and my trainer and my managers, they’ve always been there for me and with me, and I didn’t reciprocate what they put in, in the gym and in the office and stuff. So what I have to do now is just basically do what I’m supposed to be doing and actually listen to [trainer] Henry [Ramirez] and try to do whatever the hell he tells me to do. But, you know, this fight, it is – it is a make-me-or-break-me kind of fight, you know? It’s for both of us, you know? This is – this is our opportunity to showcase ourselves.”

Outside of the ring both fighters share the rare distinction of being Mexican heavyweight fighters fighting out of Southern California, outside of the ring they both acknowledge that their work ethic of the past had left something to be desired.

Quezada, who sports an official record of 29-5 with 18 of those wins coming by way of stoppage, is coming off of a razor thin split decision loss to Jason Gavern earlier this year.

“You know what? I’m going to do way more for this fight. I mean, it’s a bigger fight, of course, and it’s a tougher opponent, definitely, but, you know, I took Gavern a little lightly, you know what I mean? We didn’t train as hard. And mainly, like I said, we went into the fight feeling good, and we just – it was just an off night, you know what I mean? That head butt just made it even worse,” Quezada explained.

While Quezada credits the head butt as one of the major contributing factors to his recent loss, Arreola’s hands didn’t do him any favors citing an injury during his most recent bout with Adamek.

“I feel my hand – my hand’s a lot better. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be, so my hand’s good. You know, I was back to full contact about three weeks ago, so I’m good.”

Barring any sort of hand injury, this fight looks to be an all out slugfest as they combine for 43 knockouts in their 57 wins, and considering that both guys are local products, the atmosphere inside the Citizens Bank Arena tonight looks to be electric, only serving as further motivation for Arreola and Quezada to leave it all in the ring.

As the opening bell sounds to kick off tonights event, the crowd sitting ringside along with those watching at home can anticipate fireworks as the Southern California fighters know that this is the definition of a make or break type of fight.

When the final bell rings to end the scheduled 10 round affair one man will have his hand raised in triumph as he becomes one step closer to getting to the top of the heavyweight division, while the other will be forced to go back to the drawing board.

After recent struggles for both, it’s finally time to turn things around. No injuries, no cut corners and, most of all, no excuses.