Healthy Vitali Klitschko could bode ill for Chris Arreola

Greg Beacham, AP Sports Writer

Friday, Sept. 25, 2009 | 5 p.m.

Vitali Klitschko kept the memory of his last fight at Staples Center in his mind throughout the six years it took him to get back there against Chris Arreola on Saturday night.

Klitschko led Lennox Lewis on every scorecard of that bout in June 2003, but a cut over his eye forced the fight’s stoppage midway through, leaving Klitschko pleading for more time to finish. On the verge of asserting dominance in the heavyweight division, Klitschko’s body betrayed him—an all-too-familiar theme in his otherwise impressive career.

“It was the most frustrating time, but also the best,” Klitschko said. “Because I learned that to be a champion, it takes more than hard work. Sometimes you have to have luck as well. I think about this every day still. It’s (one reason) I wanted to fight in L.A. again, for the fans who cheered for me that night when I wasn’t lucky.”

The experience drove Klitschko (37-2, 36 KOs) through nearly four years away from the sport, when a series of injuries repeatedly threatened to stop his career for good. Instead, the extra recuperation time ultimately healed him, and he made a dramatic return as the WBC heavyweight champion with two recent victories.

Now he’s back in his adopted Southern California home to take on the undefeated American slugger Arreola (27-0, 24 KOs), a 6-to-1 underdog who still has vicious punching power and enough resilience to force Klitschko to take heed.

“I will be in the best shape of my life,” Klitschko said. “I will be at the same level as when I fought Lennox. But I have more experience now. I’m much more clever inside the ring. This will be a very good fight, but I’m more ready than ever.”

Arreola, 10 years younger and half a head shorter than his opponent, has his own motivation. The Riverside, Calif., resident’s fans are expected to pack Staples Center hoping to see the coronation of the first heavyweight champion with Mexican heritage, while Arreola also plans to show off his markedly improved fitness after losing more than 40 pounds in the past three months with a demanding training regimen.

Arreola weighed in at 251 pounds Thursday, showing off a physique that’s much less paunchy than in his previous few fights. The step up in competition might turn out to be too much for Arreola, but the test presented by Klitschko— and the training he embraced to take it—could benefit him for years.

“I’ve always seen this day coming,” Arreola said. “I’ve been working my way up steadily through the sport, and now I’m right where I want to be. I worked hard for this opportunity. I beat everybody in my way. I’ve been pushing myself to get here, and now it feels great.”

Arreola has proved he loves a good brawl while overpowering a string of lesser opponents by taking a punch to give one. That won’t be a wise strategy against Klitschko, who hits with a ferocity Arreola has never seen in the ring, despite his protestations to the contrary.

Klitschko’s advantages in height and reach also could be decisive. His similarly proportioned brother, IBF champion Wladimir, is known for using his jab almost defensively to prevent opponents from even throwing punches in many cases, while Vitali uses his jab as a scalpel to open his foes for bigger finishes.

Arreola claimed to be outraged this week when reports surfaced of Klitschko’s camp already planning another fight in December.

“I don’t know if he’s taking me seriously or not, and I don’t care,” Arreola said. “He’s going to find out how serious I am when I hit him in the face. Then he’ll have to take me seriously, I guarantee that.”

Although the Ukrainian Klitschko brothers can make the most money fighting in Germany near their fans and marketing machine, Vitali eagerly came back to California for the chance to spend an extended time in the country where his children were born and the city where he still lives—when he isn’t training in Hamburg or running for political office in Kiev, that is.

Klitschko knows he might not be the favorite when he steps in the ring, but hopes he’ll be appreciated when he leaves—just as he was when he came agonizingly close to knocking off Lewis six years ago.

“If I am (booed), it’s not the first time,” Klitschko said. “Not everyone can be a fan of me. I’ll just try to put on a good show, if there’s booing or not.”