By Robert Morales

Promoter Dan Goossen on Tuesday wanted to make one thing perfectly clear - an accord for the much-discussed heavyweight title fight between Wladimir Klitschko and Chris Arreola is not close to being reached.

"With the holidays, everything was kind of put on hold," said Goossen, Arreola's promoter. "There were initial talks and there is interest, obviously. But there are no real substantial negotiations going on right now."

Goossen has said since the middle of last year that his goal is to get Arreola a title shot sometime this year. The question is, is Arreola ready to challenge Klitschko?

"Yes," Goossen said. "And that is the fight we would like to get."

Let's flash back to Nov. 29. Arreola was decked by hard-hitting Travis Walker in the second round of their fight at Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, Calif. He appeared hurt, and he looked like he was almost in shock before he got to his feet, eventually stopping Walker in the next round in one heck of a thrilling fight.

A couple of hours later, Henry Ramirez spoke to this reporter at the after party at Sisley Italian Kitchen in Rancho Cucamonga, which borders Ontario. Asked if he was worried when his fighter tasted the canvas, Ramirez pulled no punches.

"Of course, I was concerned," said Ramirez, Arreola's trainer.

Ramirez was then asked about Arreola again coming into a fight flabby. Arreola weighed 258 1/2 pounds for his previous fight against Israel Carlos Garcia in September. Ramirez had said that his goal was for Arreola to come in about 240 for Walker, but Arreola weighed 254.

This, even though Arreola went up to the mountains in Big Bear to train instead of staying at home in Riverside, which Ramirez had said was a problem. Apparently, Big Bear wasn't far enough away from Riverside - about 45 miles - so Ramirez said that he wants to take Arreola even farther out of town for his next fight.

Let's say that happens to be against Klitschko, which would give Arreola the opportunity to become the first heavyweight world champion of Mexican ancestry. The first thing most of us would say is, hey, this cat needs to get down to about 240 - which is doable for the 6-foot-4 Arreola - to have any chance of defeating Klitschko.

But something Goossen told us makes sense.

"Anyone who wants to say he is too heavy based upon x-amount of pounds, I would say that based on his past performances, he has been pretty darn exciting and aggressive in his fights," Goossen said. "If you just judged him on his performances, you would say he has looked tremendous."

In proclaiming Arreola's readiness for Klitschko, Goossen also noted that Arreola hasn't compiled his record of 26-0 with 23 knockouts fighting a bunch of "tomato cans." Of Arreola's nine fights the past two years, three have come against Damian Wills, Chazz Witherspoon and Walker.

Wills and Witherspoon were both unbeaten at the time they fought Arreola. But neither were as good as Walker, who came in 28-1-1 with 22 knockouts and can crack.

"We knew Walker was hungry, we knew he was big and strong and we knew he was a tremendous puncher," Goossen said.

Walker is not Klitschko. But Goossen believes that Arreola's ability to come back and beat Walker while under pressure will serve him well if he does get that fight.

"He learned a great deal there that will help him immensely against a Klitschko or someone of that ilk," Goossen said. "What did he learn? He learned to take control from the get-go. He learned that anybody can get knocked down. A lot of fighters feel they are invincible.

"And I feel a lot more comfortable in him fighting a Klitschko after what happened Nov. 29." 

We all know that a fighter proves his worth when he shows what he can do when he has to fight through adversity for the first time.

Arreola passed that test with flying colors.

Only time will tell if Arreola is ready for Klitschko. But remember this - Arreola is a vicious, attacking fighter. He is just the kind of opponent Klitschko does not like to face. If this fight takes place this year, it will not be boring, even though Klitschko is in a lot of boring fights. Arreola will make him fight, and it could be one of the better heavyweight title fights in some time.

Larry Merchant Weighs In

Larry Merchant, HBO's wizard of boxing broadcasting, said Wednesday morning that to his knowledge, both Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko would like to fight Brit David Haye. But, as has been reported on this website, Vitali Klitschko has a mandatory defense in Juan Carlos Gomez. And Merchant - who said he was speaking on his own behalf and not on HBO's - said it's his understanding that the elder Klitschko does not want to be stripped of the title he regained by stopping Sam Peter after nine rounds in October.

To Merchant, a Vitali Klitschko-Gomez fight being made would bode well for Arreola because that would mean that Wladimir Klitschko would likely fight Haye before taking on Arreola.

"In my mind that would be a good development because that would give Arreola time to have another fight or two before fighting Wladimir, which would accomplish two things," Merchant said. "One, it would give (Arreola) a chance to get into the best shape he can get himself into, which he will need for fighting a quality heavyweight. And, secondly, it would give him a chance to get exposure to the American fans so that if he eventually fights Wladimir, it will become the big fight it should be.

"Right now it is not a big fight. Right now there are too many people who don't know him and too many people in the boxing world, including the media, who don't think he is ready to fight Wladimir. So in my mind he would be best served by fighting once or twice before fighting Wladimir for those two reasons."

That said, Merchant spoke in the proverbial good-news, bad-news tones regarding Arreola's stoppage of Walker. But the good seemed to out-weigh the bad. First the bad news.

"There were two impressions I had," Merchant said. "One is he can still be in better shape, which doesn't mean he has to look like Kenny Norton or Wladimir Klitschko with a body beautiful. It does mean he has to look like he cares and like he is going to have the stamina he needs for the elite fighters."

Now the good news.

"Secondly, to me it showed the kind of strength and toughness that he has, that after being tentative and taking a pretty good beating for a round or so, he showed that he can pull himself together and still impose his will on an opponent, and that's rare," Merchant said. "You don't find that in may guys, who can take that kind of punishment and keep coming. It's what American heavyweights, particularly crowd-pleasing, powerful American heavyweights have often been about, the ability to impose their will and keep coming through whatever the fire is." 

Guess What? Wladimir Klitschko-Haye Talks Taking Place

Don't look now, but the sequence of events mapped out by Merchant could very well come to fruition. We contacted Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions - Haye's American-based promoter - a few hours after speaking with Merchant. 

"It's funny you should bring that up because I just got off the phone with Adam Booth," Schaefer said, referring to Haye's trainer/manager who helps Haye run his England-based promotional company, Hayemaker Promotions. "The fact is they are having meetings between Team Klitschko and Hayemaker Promotions and there are talks about trying to finalize a David Haye-Wladimir Klitschko fight.

"There are ongoing talks taking place in Europe. Obviously, Klitschko is over there and Adam is there."

Schaefer said there is no exact date yet in place for that fight, but that it would likely take place in April in England. Schaefer sounded like he was drooling on his cell phone when discussing what could transpire in such a bout.

"There would be some bombs flying," he said.

Klitschko, who holds two of the four championship belts, is 52-3 with 46 knockouts. Haye, the former cruiserweight champion who recently moved up to heavyweight, is 22-1 with 21 knockouts. 

If this transpires and Klitschko wins, a fight between him and Arreola would look good for the fall.

Pacquiao-Hatton Update

The proposed junior welterweight mega fight between Filipino superstar Manny Pacquiao and British idol Ricky Hatton is not quite done, but it is inching closer to consummation as each day passes. Hatton is promoted by Golden Boy, and Schaefer said he has a pile of documents to go through and that there is a conference call scheduled this week with the attorneys of the respective fighters. 

"I hope within the next week we can firm everything up," Schaefer said.

The fight would be held on May 2 in Las Vegas.

Schaefer: De La Hoya-Chavez Jr.? Forget it

Schaefer of course has heard all the scuttlebutt about a possible fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. But he told us last week it will never be more than that. 

"If he would fight again, it would never be Chavez Jr.," said Schaefer, who said he expects De La Hoya to make a decision about whether he will continue fighting in the next month or so. 

Schaefer's reason for saying this fight will never happen was direct and to the point. Basically, he said all one has to do is look at the list of opponents that make up Chavez's record of 38-0-1 and 28 knockouts.

"What has he done?" Schaefer said. "Who has he fought?"

Not one world-class fighter. And that's fine. Chavez Jr. is just 22, and he didn't have an amateur career. In his case, it's somewhat understandable that his promoter, Bob Arum, has brought him along as slowly as he has. 

Schaefer went on to say that De La Hoya's career has been about challenges, and that this would not be one. Schaefer also said that just because Chavez Jr. is the son of a famous fighter doesn't mean he should get to step in the ring with De La Hoya.

One thing's for sure, De La Hoya should never again fight at less than junior middleweight. We all saw what happened against Pacquiao in their welterweight fight last month.

Donald Tremblay Award

I started the Donald Tremblay Award in 2006 to honor the top publicist in boxing. The award went to Tremblay himself the first year and then to Fred Sternburg in 2007.

Actually, the initial name of the award was "Publicist of the Year." But because Tremblay does something few - if any - publicists do on a regular basis, it was re-named after him. After a given fight, most publicists get quotes in the ring and bring them down to press row and feed them to reporters cranking out their stories on
deadline. 

After that, they usually disappear. Not Tremblay. He stays at press row and protects us from that wonderful group of guys from HBO who are tearing down equipment and tables around us, almost as if we are invisible. Often, they yank out the power to our laptops. Sometimes they even have the audacity to ask a given reporter to move so they can get their stuff out of there. Meanwhile, we often have no more than 15 minutes to file our stories after the main event. I know, most fans couldn't care less about us. And that's cool. But we writers couldn't give fans what we give them without top-notch PR people. There are several good ones out there, but there can be only one annual winner.

And the 2008 winner of the Donald Tremblay Award goes to veteran Bill Caplan, who has been in this business for about a hundred years (just kidding, Bill). Seriously, though, the 70-something-year-old Caplan still works his behind off, most of his work coming on an independent basis for promoter Bob Arum.

When I dole out this award, I always look for something that separates one from the rest. In Caplan's case, he is the guy who can usually hook you up with Arum regardless of what part of the world he's in, or with one of Arum's fighters.

But Caplan is not the only one who can do that for his or her respective boss. People like Sternburg (independent), Ricardo Jimenez (Top Rank), Lee Samuels (Top Rank), Marylyn Aceves (independent/Goossen Tutor Promotions) and John Beyrooty (Brener,
Zwikel & Associates) - to name a few - all do that well. 

But Caplan lives and breathes boxing to a point where it's kind of sick - in a good way. It is never surprising to see Caplan at an event he is not even working. And even though he is not working, he's still more than happy to try and find out something for a reporter who is under duress.

It's one of those situations where a reporter starts to look around for help, sees Caplan and says, "Oh, hey, there's Caplan. I'll bet he knows." 

Robert Morales covers boxing for the Los Angeles Daily News, ESPN.com, Long Beach Press-Telegram, and BoxingScene.com