By Brent Matteo Alderson

Last November I went up to Chris Arreola’s training camp in Big Bear California while he was training for his fight with Travis Walker and the Nightmare wasn’t as motivated as he should have been and commented, “Travis Walker doesn’t motivate me.  I wanted to fight a big name, I’m tired of fighting prospects,” and the lack of drive was evident.

Yes Chris was in camp and had cut out all the alcohol and was going to the gym in the afternoons, but the day that I went to the gym, his regimen definitely lacked intensity. 

It was a day after Arreola had sparred with Damien Wills and his trainer, Henry Ramirez commented, “Chris looked like shit, Bobo [Wills] has been beating the f-ck out of him during sparring.”

That afternoon Chris hit the mitts and the speed bag and did some light calisthenics. His conditioning coach, Joe Esquivel, urged him to do some extra stand up-sit ups, but Chris just nodded his head and said he was done. 

Chris stayed there at Johnny Ortiz’s gym for about two hours and spent as much time talking and joking around as he did working out. 

The workout would have been considered solid for a guy trying to get in shape for his 20th high school reunion, but not for a guy trying to compete for the heavyweight title, but that’s Chris Arreola and he was tired of fighting up and coming heavyweights. 

He had already beaten dangerous prospects in Damien Wills and Chazz Witherspoon on HBO and wanted to fight a Hasim Rahman or a Tua or even a James Toney, guys that would bring him more mainstream recognition, and the lack of focus almost cost him the fight with Walker. 

This time things are different.  Chris is excited about the prospect of fighting the 6’7 Jameel McCline, a fighter that has been a fixture in the heavyweight division for almost a decade and his trainer Henry Ramirez says that Chris is much more prepared for this fight than he was in November.

“It’s like night and day.  He’s much more receptive to everything.  I think a lot of that has to do with the environment we are in as well as the opponent.  In the Walker fight he was led to believe he was going to fight a name or a former world champ, but whatever the case, it was a shitty camp and this camp is the complete opposite.  Jameel has a reputation in the sport and he’s a really respected fighter and he’s been in with the best.  The Chris in November wouldn’t have had enough to beat Jameel and I firmly believe that”    

Arreola doesn’t like the confinement of Big Bear and feels more comfortable training at Willie Schunke’s private gym in the hills overlooking Riverside.

Arreola’s satisfaction with the opponent as well as the training local have led to a more a productive camp where he has regularly sparred with veterans Cisse Salif and Lance Whitaker.

“We’ve probably sparred around eighty rounds. We put Lance in after Chris had already gone eight rounds so Chris would really focus and push himself as the sparring went on and Chris looked really good. Even after he got tired, Lance being as big as he is and as strong as he is really made Chris focus.  It’s easy to lose focus when a fighter is tired and you see lapses in defense, but that wasn’t the case.  Lance even said that Chris got stronger as he got deeper into the rounds,” noted Ramirez.

“We are hoping that Chris weighs between 243 and 245.  I know there are a lot of people who have their idea of what Chris should weigh, but they have never spent a day in the gym with him so they don’t know shit."   

After visiting his camp a couple of times, the difference in the level of intensity and preparation in comparison to the fight with Walker has been very apparent.  Arreola has looked sharp in sparring, throwing combinations and moving his head, and has just seemed more focus on the task at hand. 

After one workout, we all went to dinner and Chris’s dedication was exemplified by his order, “Give me the chicken breast dinner with extra vegetables and a tall glass of ice water!”

Imagine the intensity of his training regimen if a fight with one of the Klitschkos comes to fruition, we just might see Arreola running down the street at five in the morning like a Mexican Rocky Balboa.  

Notes: 

Favorite Quote: Famous fight manager Doc Kearns once commented, “Maybe I was always fast with a buck, the booze, or the broads, but I was always pretty quick with the ideas too.”

I just started reading Peter Benson’s Battling Siki.

Battling Siki is famous for losing his title in Ireland on Saint Patrick’s Day, but he wasn’t the first to defend a world title in Ireland on Saint Patrick’s Day. Tommy Burns successfully defended the Heavyweight title in Ireland in 1908 on March 17 with a first round knockout over one Jem Roche.   

I would like to congratulate Thompson Boxing on Timothy Bradley’s victory.  Alex Camponovo and Ken Thompson have done an excellent job keeping the fight scene alive in the Inland Empire. Both Timothy Bradley and Chris Arreola came up on their monthly shows at the Double Tree Hotel.  Boxing needs more guys like Ken Thompson, a construction mogul and a self made multi-millionaire, whose involvement in boxing is probably more motivated by passion than by profit.  For information on their upcoming show in April click, www.thompsonboxing.com

 

James Toback’s Tyson premieres on April 24 in Los Angeles and New York.  I can’t wait. 

John David Jackson holds Winky Wright in high regard, but is going with Paul Williams in their fight this Saturday because “Paul has been on a roll and Winky has been off for almost two years.”

I like Williams too, but if he loses lets not be so quick too write him off because Wright is probably one of the five best middleweights in the world and Paul maintains he can still make the 147 pound limit.   

Supposedly Michael Grant turned down the fight with Arreola.  I’m surprised; I thought Grant would have jumped at the chance to fight on HBO again.

Brent Matteo Alderson, a graduate of UCLA, has been part of the staff at BoxingScene.com since 2004. Alderson's published work has appeared in publications such as Ring Magazine, KO, World Boxing, Boxing 2008, and Latin Boxing Magazine. Alderson has also been featured on the ESPN Classic television program “Who’s Number One?”  Please e-mail any comments to BoxingAficionado@aol.com