By Robert Morales
He is ... 'The Thin Man'
Chris Arreola finally got himself into shape, and the results were very good.
For his previous eight fights prior to last Saturday's against Nagy Aguilera on the Ward-Abraham undercard, Arreola weighed 258 1/2, 254, 255, 251, 263, 250 1/2, 256 and 249 1/2 pounds, respectively. Arreola weighed 234 for Aguilera and stopped Aguilera in the third round. Aguilera is not a world-class heavyweight, but he's not a bum, either.
Arreola threw a lot of punches with mean intentions and he never seemed to get winded. Had he walked into the ring his typical blubbery self, he never would have been able to do that.
Goossen, Arreola's promoter, was stoked.
"This has been Chris's decision to put training at the forefront now; it's not ours," he said. "It's what we wanted for a while. It was his decision to come to the conclusion that if he wants to be heavyweight champion, he has to train like a heavyweight champion.
Goossen said it was more than Arreola not showing fatigue.
"It was not only not getting tired, but the mental mindset," he said. "When you know you have done everything you are supposed to do in preparation, and you know you have the toughness, the chin and the amateur pedigree and the pro pedigree, you have a different level of mindset. You are in that place where you believe you can accomplish your goals now. When you walk out of the dressing room to the ring, you have that confidence. ... Now he has everything.
"It can now propel him to making that history that we all want him to make."
When Josesito Lopez pulled out of a May 27 fight on a Goossen card in Reno, Goossen said Arreola "raised his hand" and said he'd take a fight on the card. Only 13 days after his win over Aguilera, Arreola will be squaring off with Kendrick Releford (22-14-2, 10 KOs).
We hate to say it since Arreola obviously put in the work for a change, but it will be interesting to see how much he weighs for that fight. A guy like Arreola can pack it on in a hurry. If he comes in for Releford at 250 because he's not expecting much from the journeyman, that will say a lot about Arreola's mindset, as Goossen calls it.
