By Radio Rahim
Don Haskins Center, El Paso, Texas - Heavyweight contender Chris "The Nightmare" Arreola (36-4-1, 31 KOs) was hoping to put in a very impressive performance against "Big" Fred Kassi (18-3-1, 10 KOs), but instead the Southern Cali fighter walked away with a lackluster ten round majority draw.
Arreola was already trying to recover from his recent decision win over Curtis Harper in March. That fight was set to be an easy win, but instead became a life and death fight for eight rounds.
The fight with Kassi was booked to be a showcase for Arreola, who was strongly being considered to be the next opponent for WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (34-0, 33KOs) in September.
Arreola openly admits that he looked poor with Kassi and did nothing on Saturday night to earn a fight with Wilder. The scores were 96-94 for Arreola and 95-95 (twice).
"Hell no [I don't deserve it]. With a performance like this I don't deserve it. I'll be honest with you, I don't deserve Deontay Wilder right now. I've got to put on a good performance and this was sh*t, honestly," Arreola told BoxingScene.com.
Arreola hopes to be back in September with a much better showing.
"I'll be back in September, the sooner the better. I just want to put on better performances than this and get better opponents who actually will fight me," Arreola said.