By Ian S Palmer
Unbeaten WBC Heavyweight Champion Deontay Wilder will be defending his crown against fellow American Chris Arreola this Saturday, July 16th in Birmingham, Alabama with this being Arreola’s third title shot. Wilder was supposed to have defended his crown in May against former heavyweight titleholder Alexander Povetkin of Russia, but the bout was postponed after Povetkin tested positive in a drug test. Saturday’s 12-round bout can be seen live in the U.S. and Canada on the Fox Network while fans in the UK can see it live on Sky Sports. Wilder’s last bout was a ninth-round stoppage over Poland’s Artur Szpilka back in January. Arreola last fought in December and beat Travis Kauffman by 12-round majority decision, but it was changed to a no decision after he failed a drug test for marijuana and was suspended for 90 days. It was the second time Arreola has had a win changed to a no decision due to testing positive for marijuana.
Wilder beat former WBC champ Bermaine Stiverne in January of 2015 by unanimous decision to claim the vacant title. Before running into Stiverne, Wilder had stopped all 32 of his opponents including Malik Scott and Audley Harrison. The 30-year-old Wilder of Tuscaloosa, Alabama will climb into the ring with a perfect record of 36-0 along with 35 Kos and will be defending his title for the fourth time. Wilder is a former Olympic bronze medalist who became the first American heavyweight in close to a decade to own a portion of the heavyweight title when he beat Haiti’s Stiverne. That victory made him the first American heavyweight since 2007 to win a world belt with Shannon Briggs being the last to do it.
Wilder is basically well known for two things, which are his size and his power. He stands 6-feet-7-inches tall, has an 83-inch reach, and has stopped all but one of his opponents. The champion has 99 rounds under his belt since turning pro in 2008 and his knockout percentage ratio currently stands at 97 per cent. Just three of Wilder’s 35 Ko victims have made it past the fourth round and they were his last three opponents, Eric Molina, Johann Duhaupas, and Szpilka. And let’s not forget Stiverne was his previous opponent and went the distance with him, so perhaps Wilder’s power is waning?
The 35-year-old Arreola of Los Angeles, California will enter the ring with a record of 36-4-1 with 31 Kos. He has better-than-average power as Arreola has a knockout ratio of 72 per cent. Arreola isn’t the biggest heavyweight around, but he’s not small either as he stands 6-feet-3-inches in height and has a 76-inch reach. He’s has fought 193 rounds since turning pro in 2003 and has beaten the likes of Damian Wills, Cliff Couser, Chazz Witherspoon, Travis Walker, Jameel McCline, Brian Minto, Joey Abell and Seth Mitchell. He’s been beaten by former world champions Tomasz Adamek, Vitali Klitschko and Bermane Stiverne twice. Klitschko managed to stop him as did Stiverne once.
Arreola is more or less a one-dimensional fighter, but he’s good at that dimension. He’s an exciting, fan-friendly boxer who doesn’t mind slugging it out and taking two punches to land one of his own. He’s been stopped a couple of times, but still has a better-than-average chin. This should be an entertaining fight and there could be a knockdown or two along the way as both fighters have an attacking mentality and plenty of power to boot. Arreola needs to land something hard and heavy before Wilder does on Saturday night to gain confidence and keep the champion at bay. Wilder showed some fine boxing skills, defence, movement, and a good chin against Stiverne and he should be able to do the same here.
Arreola’s best chance here is to try and land big shots soon as possible and if he’s successful, just keep on throwing them. The bigger Wilder will likely establish his jab and just wait for the opportunity to throw his power shots. If Arreola manages to stand up to them the champion will then have to rely on his boxing skills to rack up the points. If Arreola can get close to Wilder he needs to make it an ugly fight and simply hope for the best.
Prediction……
Most fans will be surprised if this fight doesn’t end in a knockout and there’s a good chance it will. Both Wilder and Arreola are powerful punchers, but they also have pretty solid chins. Wilder has the better boxing skills though and a bit more power than the challenger. Look for him to stop Arreola and retain his belt.
