By Cliff Rold

Last week, boxing fans got history.  This week, they get Heavyweights.

Let’s face it.  Unless a Klitschko is fighting a former Cruiserweight champion, Heavyweight boxing remains hard to get excited about.  It’s an odd place to be.  Between July and September, with Wladimir-David Haye and Vitali-Tomasz Adamek on tap, Heavyweight will be as robust as it has been in years. 

A pair of stadium shows, in short order, with contests that at least look competitive going in, will give Heavyweight boxing the look of seriousness once again. 

It’s fair to say that, once the bell rings, the fights are usually serious no matter the size of the crowd.  One of the great weaknesses of this much-derided era is the weakness of its contenders at the supper table.  Another is that some of its most professional are all glaringly lacking in a key area. 

When a fighter plagued with the weakness of appetite gets serious about controlling it, eyes perk up.  When a fighter who gets by on hard work and consistently doing just what they do well, it can go unappreciated. 

This Friday, boxing gets a look at both in Reno as the ‘biggest little city in the world’ hosts a pair of former title challengers, Chris Arreola and Tony Thompson, in the Heavyweight division.  Both would like another opportunity before they are done.  One day, given both are within shooting distance of at least an IBF eliminator, they may have to go through each other to get it. 

For now, other challenges await.

For Arreola (31-2, 27 KO), whose losses have come to Vitali and Adamek, appetite has been an issue.  Discipline has appeared lacking.  Fight followers have wondered if Arreola could ever show the same passion he brings to fights, and post-fight interviews, through camps.  Just a couple of weeks ago, there was suddenly reason to be intrigued again by the still only 30-year old California. 

234.

It was the lowest Arreola had been on the scale since 2007.  He walked through journeyman Nagy Aguilera and comes right back with Kendrick Releford (22-14-2, 10 KO).  Wise tempering says that the foes balance against the scale, that Arreola still isn’t beating the better parts of the division. 

It remains easy to point out that, while both his losses have come to legitimate top ten Heavyweights, they are also the only fighters at that level Arreola has faced.  Better conditioning won’t be proven to matter until he beats someone worth talking about.

Still, the 230’s again?  It’s a good start. 

As to the whole beat someone good thing, Thompson could be as good a candidate as any.  While already 39, the 6’5 southpaw is still capable, looking to extend a four-fight winning streak to five against fellow veteran Maurice Harris (24-14-2, 10 KO).  Thompson isn’t a huge crowd pleaser, flying under the radar for most of his decade and change in the paid ranks. 

The one time he was truly exposed to the world, he earned their respect in defeat.  In challenging Wladimir Klitschko in 2008, Thompson did what everyone else has done against Klitschko for the last five or so years.

He lost.

But unlike a Sultan Ibragimov or Ruslan Chagaev, among recent Klitschko victims, Thompson could walk away with some pride in his performance.  Outgunned, outclassed, he still tried to win.  He went out on his shield and no one could feel in watching his effort they lost irretrievable minutes. 

If he can get by Harris this weekend, and it feels like most contenders since the 90s have put Harris on their ledger at some point, there is no promise of bright lights or title fights. 

But the hope will remain.

Arreola, with renewed dedication, is likely to recharge his fan base and has more than hope on his side.  Boxing is a form of entertainment.  Despite the areas where he has disappointed, Arreola has yet to fail to entertain.  What he needs is a string of consistent exhibitions of real professionalism and then a quality win of the sort he still lacks.

Arreola and Thompson have some history of jawing at press conferences.  Their sharing a televised bill can’t help but feel like the set-up of a confrontation down the road.  A slip for either, in fights they are expected to win, would not only mitigate the chances of a showdown.

It could set them back from ever seriously contending again.

This is a slow week in boxing for everyone who isn’t fighting.  That doesn’t include Chris Arreola and Tony Thompson.

Weekly Ledger

But wait, there’s more…

Cliff’s Notes… Just a prediction: Scotty McCreery will end up selling more albums than any American Idol winner yet.  Not a big country fan, but the country fans I know see a superstar…Now that Smallville is over, the countdown is officially begun for “Man of Steel,” coming Christmas-ish 2012…Maybe the best Light Heavyweight version of Bernard Hopkins gives Archie Moore a run.  Maybe not.  It says here though that Jean Pascal-Yvon Durrelle is a pick ‘em…Next time the Sulaiman’s come looking for post-fight goodies, someone should hand them a jockstrap and send them on their way…It’s a damn shame Tavoris Cloud isn’t kept active.  With his style, he could easily be the man everyone wants to see test the aged Bernard.  Instead, he remains locked in the lane of hardcore recognition alone…Cloud makes fights that make fans.  Chad Dawson is doing anything but these days but is likely for a crack at Hopkins anyways…Beyond Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight, the Paul Williams-Erislandy Lara fight signed last week is a sleeper for fight of the summer.  The Jr. Featherweight title tilt between Akifumi Shimoda and Rico Ramos on the undercard might be even better.     

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel, the Yahoo Pound for Pound voting panel, and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com