Vitali Klitschko vs Chris Arreola

Making the second successful defence of his WBC heavyweight crown, Vitali Klitschko forced Chris Arreola’s corner to withdraw the challenger after ten rounds at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on September 26, 2009. Klitschko weighed 252lb and Arreola 251lb for the scheduled 12-round contest. A crowd of 14,556 attended, strongly supporting the unbeaten Californian challenger, who entered with a record of 27-0 and hopes of becoming the first heavyweight champion of Mexican descent. Klitschko, 38 years old and three fights into his return after a four-year absence from boxing, was making the second defence of the WBC title he had regained from Samuel Peter the previous year.

The pattern was established immediately. Klitschko used his height, long left jab and straight right to keep Arreola at the end of his punches. Arreola had promised to force the champion into a close fight and tried to move forward from the opening bell, but the distance proved difficult to overcome. Whenever he stepped inside, Klitschko either moved away or met him with the right hand. The first three rounds followed much the same course. Arreola spent considerable energy pursuing the champion while Klitschko scored repeatedly with the jab and right cross without allowing the challenger enough time at close quarters to develop a sustained attack. All three judges gave each of those rounds to Klitschko.

Arreola produced his first worthwhile spell in the fourth. He landed a hard right after one of Klitschko’s jabs, followed by further rights and briefly forced the champion backwards. It was the first occasion on which Klitschko appeared uncomfortable, although the judges still favoured him. The champion restored his control in the fifth. Arreola’s right eye had begun to swell, and Klitschko repeatedly landed clean rights as the challenger came forward. Arreola managed some body punches when he caught Klitschko near the ropes, but the champion held when necessary and resumed the fight at long range. By this stage the punishment was beginning to accumulate.

There were further moments of encouragement for Arreola in the sixth. He landed a right that made Klitschko react and followed it with a jab, but the success was brief. Klitschko returned immediately to the combination which had been controlling the fight: jab, right hand and movement before Arreola could answer. The seventh was another difficult round for the challenger. He attacked the body and continued pressing, but Klitschko’s right hand repeatedly stopped his advance. Arreola remained determined and physically strong, yet by then it was apparent that determination alone would not solve the tactical problem in front of him.

The eighth was Arreola’s best round. He worked to the ribs while the two men were tied up, landed several left hands and a hook, and for a short period succeeded in backing Klitschko up. Two judges awarded Arreola the round. Klitschko nevertheless remained composed and was never seriously hurt. The ninth returned firmly to the earlier pattern. Klitschko had a small cut near his right eye, but Arreola was now bleeding from the nose and slowing. The champion continued to jab and landed a succession of clean right hands while Arreola tried unsuccessfully to work his way inside.

By the tenth, the challenger was absorbing too much punishment for too little return. Klitschko landed two heavy rights during the round and caught Arreola again with clean right hands in the closing seconds. Arreola remained upright and continued trying to advance, but his face was swollen, and he was plainly exhausted. When he returned to his corner, referee Jon Schorle asked trainer Henry Ramirez whether his fighter could continue. Ramirez decided that he could not and stopped the contest before the bell for the eleventh. Arreola protested and was visibly distressed by the decision, but Ramirez maintained that his fighter had taken enough punishment.

The official scores showed the extent of Klitschko’s command. Guido Cavalleri had him ahead 100-89, while Ken Morita and Anek Hongtongkam each scored it 99-91. Arreola had not been knocked down and had shown considerable resistance, but he had been unable to alter the basic geometry of the contest. Klitschko was taller, longer and more experienced, and he continually made the challenger cross too much distance before he could punch. Arreola later acknowledged the central problem: whenever he attempted something, Klitschko found an answer and prevented him from establishing the close-range fight he needed.

The victory was Klitschko’s third since returning to the ring in 2008 and strengthened the hold he and his brother Wladimir had over the heavyweight division. Arreola suffered his first professional defeat but lost without disgracing himself. His willingness to advance never deserted him, and he continued trying even when the contest had moved well beyond his reach. The difference was not courage but control. Klitschko dictated where the fight took place, landed first and moved before Arreola could answer. By the time the corner intervened, the challenger had been comprehensively outboxed, and further rounds were unlikely to change the result.

I always liked Chris Arreola. He’s what I called an honest fighter; he always turned up, had a go and tried to win at all costs. There was never much pretence about him. He came forward, threw punches and trusted his chin and heart to get him through. That’s why people liked watching him, and it’s why this fight was difficult to watch by the end.

The problem was that Vitali Klitschko was all wrong for him. Arreola needed to get close, work the body and turn it into a physical fight. Vitali wouldn’t let him. He kept him at the end of that long jab, stepped back when Arreola closed the gap and kept dropping the right hand in as Chris came forward. It was basic heavyweight boxing done extremely well.

Arreola never stopped trying, which is exactly what you expected from him, but he was paying for every advance. There are only so many clean right hands you can walk through before somebody has to save you from yourself.

I had no problem with his corner stopping it. That’s what a good corner is there for. Chris would probably have gone out for another round because that was his nature, but the fight had gone.

He didn’t lose because he lacked heart. He lost because he met a much better, much more experienced heavyweight who controlled every part of the fight that mattered.