:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/imported_assets/217700/chris-arreola.jpg)
According to The Ring, WBC heavyweight titlist Vitali Klitschko will defend on September 26 in Los Angeles against Mexican-American hopeful Chris Arreola.
Klitschko (37-2, 36 KO) recently lost a September 12 fight with David Haye when Haye suddenly agreed to fight Nikolai Valuev in November, which left Vitali with an open, optional date. HBO has moved it to September 26 and played a major role in inserting house favorite upcoming heavyweight Arreola (27-0, 24 KO), whose big-punching, brawling style and youth give him a better than average chance at knocking off one of the kings of the heavyweight crop.
I'm glad Arreola and promoter Dan Goossen are so willing to make this step, because it's a radical leap in competition from Jameel McCline and Travis Walker. They've talked big about putting Arreola into a major fight in Los Angeles, and now they've come through. Klitschko is a serious risk for Arreola, who has shown an indifference to training and being in what most would consider proper shape for a professional boxer, but the conditioning has yet to affect him greatly. One also assumes this will be the most serious camp of his life. After all, should he win, he's the first-ever Mexican world heavyweight titleholder, and he then becomes a prime challenger for Vitali's brother, current champion Wladimir Klitschko.
I find this fight intriguing, but I have that voice in my head telling me to not get too crazy, that Klitschko will just jab and unload some cannon rights until Arreola can take no more. We've seen Arreola down and hurt in the past, and Klitschko has an iron chin. Arreola's only real chance is to catch Vitali cold and bomb him out at some point, but he's got the kind of power where he just might be able to do it.