LOS ANGELES (AP) — Vitali Klitschko retained his piece of the heavyweight title Saturday night, dominating Arreola from the opening bell before Cris Arreola's corner finally decided he had enough and refused to let the challenger come out for the 11th round.
It was the first loss for Arreola, who was trying to become the first Mexican-American to win a heavyweight title.
Arreola spent almost the entire fight moving forward in an attempt to get inside his taller opponent, but paid a heavy price as Klitschko
landed punches from almost every angle to his head and midsection. By
the later rounds, Arreola’s face was a bloody mess, yet he continued to
plod forward in an increasingly desperate attempt to land a big punch
inside.
The fight ended with Arreola on his stool after the 10th
round, still ready to fight some more when his trainer refused to allow
him to go on.
“He was taking too much punishment,” trainer Henry Ramirez said. “When I told him I was going to stop the fight he was irate.”
Klitschko
put on an impressive show, using both his reach advantage and his
considerable ring skills to land left hooks followed by an assortment
of right hands. But he was never able to put Arreola down, and never
landed enough big punches to make him want to quit.
“I know I was hurting him a lot but he has a great, great chin,” Klitschko said. “I was surprised he did not come out (for the 11th round).”
One ringside judge gave Klitschko all 10 rounds while the other two gave Arreola one round. The Associated Press had Klitschko winning every round.
It
was the third win for Klitchko since he returned last year from a
four-year retirement he said he needed to allow his body to heal. His
brother, Wladimir, also a heavyweight champion, was in the corner to
give him advice but there was little that needed to be said about a
performance so dominating that there seemed little chance for Arreola
even after the first round.
“I’m so sorry, I really wanted to be champion,” Arreola said. “I never wanted to quit.”
Ringside punch statistics showed Klitschko
threw 802 punches, a huge amount for a heavyweight, and landed 301 of
them. Arreola was credited with landing 86 of 331 punches.
Klitschko was a 5-1 favorite, but Arreola thought he would have a puncher’s chance at the very least. He didn’t, largely because Klitschko not only takes a good punch but refused to allow him inside to land many.
The pace of the fight was set in the first round, with Klitschko
moving backward slowly, landing punches to the head, while Arreola
lunged at him, usually finding only air at the end of his punches. The
fight continued in much the same fashion, with Arreola’s face reddening
and blood streaming from his nose and mouth.
“This was a hard fight, like I expected,” Klitschko said. “He’s a tough fighter.
It was a successful return for Klitschko
to the Staples Center, where he made a name for himself in a loss to
Lennox Lewis in 2003 and won the WBC title the next year. Though Klitschko
has a home in Los Angeles, Arreola is a Southern California native and
most in the near capacity crowd were there to cheer him on.
The cheers grew fainter, though, as the rounds added up and the crowd realized this was not going to be their man’s night.
“I couldn’t get to him,” Arreola said. “He was fighting the fight he was supposed to fight.”
