By Jake Donovan, photo by Francisco Perez/Premier Boxing Champions

Anytime you talk to Chris Arreola, you can expect two things in return: an excessive amount of F-bombs; and an honest take on any given subject – even when the topic is his own self-assessment.

Given his recent ring appearances, the veteran heavyweight understands the suggestion that he’s one more loss – or even subpar performance – away from serving as a high-profile name for the next generation of contenders. In fact, he believes it’s why he’s so easily able to get work these days, namely his upcoming showdown with Travis Kauffman.

“I know these motherf***ers saw my last fight with Fred Kassi – and even the one before that (a sloppy yet thrilling points win over Curtis Harper in March), and think that I’m a f****n’ steak dinner to them,” Arreola (36-4-1, 31KOs) theorized to BoxingScene.com of how his peers may view him in present form. “I can’t blame them; if I were them I’d say that I looked like s**t, too. I know that’s what (Kauffman) is thinking and it’s up to me to change that image.”

The pair of familiar foes – who have sparred together extensively in the past – collide this weekend at AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. Their scheduled 10-round heavyweight bout will air live in the latest primetime edition of Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on NBC. Headlining the show, unbeaten Omar Figueroa faces unretired Antonio DeMarco in a 12-round battle of former lightweight champs.

The 34-year old heavyweight from California has seemingly been one loss away from forever being written off, but the past couple of years have been particularly troubling.

Dating back to his first loss to Bermane Stiverne in 2013, Arreola is an unspectacular 2-2-1 over his past five starts. The loss to Stiverne snapped a seven-fight win streak, but furthermore came on a night where a win would have guaranteed him a second crack at a heavyweight title. His previous bid resulted in the first loss of his career, when he was stopped in 10 rounds by then reigning heavyweight titlist Vitali Klitschko in Sept. ’09, which was followed up by a disappointing 12-round loss to Tomas Adamek in April ’10.

As luck would have it, the second opportunity would still come about.

After enduring a coming-to-Jesus moment from his longtime head trainer and close friend Henry Ramirez, Arreola showed up in tip-top shape for a 2nd round knockout of Seth Mitchell in Sept. ’13. The win indirectly led to a rematch with Stiverne, this time with a vacant title at stake. A far more competitive affair came about than was the case in the first fight, at least until Arreola was twice dropped and eventually stopped in the 6th round of their slugfest last May.

Arreola weighed 239 lbs. for the rematch with Stiverne, his lightest weight for any fight in the past four years. He reverted back to old habits in massive struggling with Harper this past March near his home base in Ontario, California. The bout aired live in the inaugural edition of PBC on Spike TV, with eight rounds of bombs away action providing fans with an early Fight of the Year candidate.

That such a fight was remotely competitive spoke volumes of how far Arreola – who tipped the scales at a fleshy 262 ¼ lbs. – had fallen from grace. He won an eight-round decision, but in a fight that was designed to emphatically put him back in the win column.

Sadly, it was the last time he secured a victory in the ring. He showed up in better shape for his July clash with Kassi, airing on a Saturday afternoon edition of PBC on CBS. A win would’ve meant a crack at reigning unbeaten heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder in September, which would have aired live in primetime on NBC. Instead, Arreola could manage no better than a draw.

Ironically, Kassi landed on that very September show, where he suffered a highly controversial points loss to Dominic Breazeale. The bout served as the chief lead-in to Wilder’s 11th round knockout of Johann Duhaupas, a largely anonymous heavyweight from France who accepted the opportunity that easily could have been given to Arreola.

“I knew I blew it in that fight,” Arreola says of his midsummer bummer. “It was just – I have to be honest, it didn’t even feel like a fight. It was in the middle of the afternoon, there weren’t even a lot of fans there yet and the way he fought – everything about it felt like it was just a sparring session.

 “But I had a job to do that day, just win the fight and get the title shot and I f****d it up. I don’t even want to talk about how I’ve changed for this fight because I know that people will just think it’s bulls**t. So now I have to get in there and just show them.”

Camp reports suggested Arreola was back to the form he showed in his early years as an unbeaten contender on the rise who threw a high volume of punches, all of which with knockout intentions. A recent media workout on site in San Antonio confirmed his conditioning for his upcoming clash with Kauffman (30-1, 22KOs), a well-schooled 30-year old boxer from Reading, PA who learned the craft from his father Marshall, his former trainer and current promoter under his King Promotions banner.

The pending rivals are familiar with one another, having previously sparred upward of 200 rounds together over the course of their respective careers. Arreola believes that while he got what he needed from those sessions to measure up his opponent, what he will bring to the table this weekend is another story.

“He’s not gonna be stupid and try to trade punches with me,” Arreola believes. “He’s going to try to use speed and footwork, thinking that I’m done and that he can just outbox me. He can think that, but I know what I can still do. He’s gonna know too, in a few days.”

Despite the familiarity among camps, this weekend’s clash is by no means intended to be a friendly rivalry – at least not from where at least one party sits.

“I have to admit, that’s one thing that motivates me even more, is when my opponents they want to be friendly and s**t,” Arreola states. “Don’t try to be my f****n’ friend during a fight. I’m pissed off, I’m in training mode, I’m just ready to knock someone out. I’m not here to be your friend.”

What he is here to do, is to prove – with actions, not words – that he still belongs among the best heavyweights in the world. He can’t predict that far into the future, but has no problem declaring how he will get to the next step.

“I have to be the old me, fight like that young, hungry motherf****r that just wanted to beat the s**t out of everyone,” insists Arreola, who in terms of physique at least looks the part for this weekend. “I want to show what I can do, but I have no problem speaking for myself and for my opponent – I’m going to do my job, and he’s gonna get knocked the f*** out.

“For me to do that, I know I have to chase him, I have to hunt him down and trap his ass to where he can’t go anywhere else. That was missing in my last two fights. I threw hands, but felt like I had no second gear, like I couldn’t do anything else once my Plan A didn’t work out. This fight, I’m coming with the whole f****n’ alphabet, I have to show everyone, that f****r you saw in my last two fights – that ain’t me.”

Jake Donovan is the managing editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox