They promised action. They delivered.
Cristobal Arreola (28-1, 25 KO) stopped Brian Minto in a wild, four-round shootout in Atlantic City tonight, bouncing back from his September loss to Vitali Klitschko and ending 2009 on a high note.
The fight was highly entertaining, as Minto (34-3, 21 KO) refused to back down from the taller, heavier man, and in the end, was outgunned and overpowered as expected.
Much of the focus will be on the fact that Arreola came in at 263 pounds, very disappointing for fans of his, and for HBO, who set up a nice little feature for Arreola about how he was working so much harder. 263 was his heaviest weight on the scales ever, 12 pounds heavier than he weighed against Klitschko in September.
After the fight, Arreola did his usual playing off of the weight questions, making jokes about how he likes food, dropping some F-bombs, doing his bit where he tries to be The Fun Fighter. He is a fun fighter, and he seems like a cool guy, but it's very clear that he does not really care about conditioning. I mean, he's made that more than obvious. It's not "hating" to point this out, as Arreola has it in his head, it's a fact. He has made it completely apparent that conditioning is not a concern of his, and then he makes corny jokes about burritos and beer so that everyone will go, "Ha ha! Oh, fun!"
He's still a good fighter. What's frustrating is he has the tools to be more than that.
Our coverage will continue one post below as we approach the Paul Williams-Sergio Martinez main event.
On the off-TV undercard in Atlantic City:
- Carlos Quintana was decked in the second round, but came back to stop Jesse Feliciano in three.
- Tony Thompson stopped Chazz Witherspoon in nine.