Deontay Wilder – Chris Arreola a Shocker? No Way!

By Richard “Doc” Pratt

WBC Heavyweight champ, Deontay Wilder, 36-0, 35 KO’s faced off against an often mentioned lesser opponent in Chris Arreola, 36-4-1, 31KO’s with 3 of those losses by KO’s, two of which came at the hands of Bermane Stiverne. Who himself suffered only his 2nd loss in 27 fights to the hands of Wilder in January of last year.

So was this the fight we all thought it would be? That would be a resounding yes.

Wilder came into the fight with a rather nasty looking abrasion on the outside of his right elbow which he stated occurred while performing some yard work at his home. The commission OK’d continuing with the bout as it wouldn’t pose any problems during the fight. Deontay dominated every round winning the first by simply flicking the jab and not much else but being the busier boxer. He was effective with it and began to use it with more authority starting in the 2nd. He was effective snapping off some stinging quick shots through Arreola’s guard, ending the round with some combinations and a shot that broke open a cut on the bridge of Chris’s nose.

Despite the hard and effective work of Wilder, Arreola was rather steady at coming forward and at times was able to get Deontay on the ropes. In the 4th, Chris had Wilder near the corner pounding his left side with what appeared to be big shots. Wilder proved that to not be the case by swinging his hips INTO the punches taunting Arreola. Then he slips to the side and delivers a big right uppercut that stood Arreola up followed by a stiff jab that had Chris nodding in the affirmative that it was an effective combination.

The fight continued like this with Wilder showboating a bit at times and having his way with his opponent. Knocking Arreola down in the 4th and had him wobbled again near the end of that same round.

The whole fight seemed not much more than target practice for Wilder. Taking everything Arreola could muster. Even, what seemed to me to be intentionally letting Chris take him to the ropes and punch away at his body to no avail. Arreola was not much of a match for Wilder in this bout but as I stated in my pre fight article “Deontay Wilder Vs Chris Arreola: Breaking it Down by the Numbers”, there are multiple good reasons for this particular matchup at this particular time in this particular situation.
The MAIN reasoning, which virtually everyone failed to recognize, is the short notice for taking the fight. A champion like Wilder is not going to get a higher ranked or more competitive opponent with that sort of timeline. Those guys want more time to train for a fight like this.
Deontay did what he should have in this fight but unfortunately, came out of the battle (if you could call it that) with some serious issues. He sustained a broken right hand and torn right biceps which will most likely keep him out of the ring the rest of the year.

I guess Povetkin will be the one having to look for alternate competition now!

Until next time. Keep your gloves up and elbows in!

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