Avila Perspective, Chap. 58: The Journey of Chris Arreola and More

Published

5 years ago

August 1, 2019

Avila-Perspective-Chap-58-The-Journey-of-Chris-Arreola-and-More

Chris Arreola knows this could be his final walk into the prize ring when he faces Adam Kownacki on Saturday at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

It’s been 16 years since his pro debut and the circle of boxing is near completion.

Arreola, 38, who quickly rose to fame from the California desert city of Riverside, knows all about victory, fame and defeat. He doesn’t want the journey to end.

“Nothing negative against Adam Kownacki, he can knock me out and I can knock him out, we both know how to fight,” said Arreola. “We both just need a little opportunity to knock somebody out. Were both exciting fighters that put everything on the line.”

In a battle that could be the end or the continuation of his career, Arreola (38-5-1, 33 KOs) battles Kownacki (19-0, 15 KOs) who now lives in Brooklyn but is originally from Poland. They meet on Saturday. FOX will televise.

During the turn of the 21^st century the city of Riverside was quickly transitioning from a sleepy town more famous for citrus fruit, toward a refuge for Los Angeles residents seeking more affordable housing.

The family of Arreola was one of these families that moved 60 miles from East Los Angeles to the growing town of Riverside near the 60-Freeway and 91-Freeway. Before World War II, Riverside was more defined by its many railroad crossings than freeways.

Arreola was one of the dozen or so talented youngsters that saw boxing as a way to pass the time. Riverside’s closest mall on Central Avenue and Riverside Avenue was mostly avoided until it was rebuilt into the now bustling Riverside Plaza. Back in the 1990s kids like Arreola, Josesito Lopez and Henry Ramirez visited the Lincoln Gym. That was their refuge despite soaring temperatures in the summer.

Those same kids and a few others helped spark a boxing revolution in the Inland Empire. It’s now an area that is home to several powerhouse boxing camps in Riverside, Indio, Big Bear and San Bernardino. That doesn’t include the many more boxing gyms that are scattered from Pomona to Coachella.

As an amateur, Arreola was a tall skinny light heavyweight who caught the rest of America by surprise during a National Golden Gloves tournament in the early 2000s. He grabbed the championship by knocking everyone out.

Arreola quickly grew into a heavyweight but Mexican heavyweights had never been a commodity. Though he packed a punch and was always entertaining, the promoters were wary about spending time and money on him.

Even Thompson Boxing Promotions, a company famous for discovering hidden talent in the Inland Empire, passed on Arreola. They signed Josesito Lopez and took a flyer on Arreola.

It was boxing scout Wes Crockett who urged Al Haymon to take a look at the Mexican heavyweight. He was subsequently signed by Goossen-Tutor Promotions and his career began to take off.

Championship Potential

Dan Goossen, the president of Goossen-Tutor Promotions, was always in pursuit of a heavyweight world champion. He stockpiled heavyweights hoping one would win a world title and help carry the company to the next level.

Goossen also saw something in Arreola.

Years ago during an informal press conference inside the Casa Vega Restaurant in the San Fernando Valley, the Southern California promoter Goossen whispered aside that Arreola was a promoter’s dream who possessed the gift of gab like Muhammad Ali.

It was a quality you can’t teach.

Early in Arreola’s pro career, mentor Andy Suarez, who trained fighters at the Lincoln Gym, worked the corner of Arreola and would point out the other Riverside fighters who had potential. He always saw championship quality in Arreola.

Another who worked Arreola’s corner was Willie Schunke who served as the cut man and hand wrapper for years. He was a Native American so everyone called him “Indian Willie” to differentiate him from the other Willie in Riverside, a trainer named Willie Silva.

Indian Willie built a gym on his hillside manor so that Arreola and Josesito Lopez could train there exclusively. It had the most spectacular views in the entire area. No boxing gym ever had a comparable panoramic view.

Fighters like Mikey Garcia, Ronny Rios, Damian “Bolo” Wills, and even new WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz visited the hillside gym to spar in the gym with a breathtaking setting.

On many occasions an old veteran boxing journalist named Bill O’Neill would trudge up and down the steep driveway to the gym to watch Arreola prepare for world title combat.

O’Neill had covered boxing from the 1960s and was the foremost expert on the career of the great Jerry Quarry. He owned orange tree orchards and would often bring several bags of the largest and juiciest oranges you ever saw or tasted. He had seen many Mexican heavyweights pursue the world championship and always felt Arreola would one day grab the belt.

First Title Shot

Arreola first fought for the world title against Vitali Klitschko in 2009, but few believed he could defeat the Ukrainian giant at the time. He was 28 years old but still in a learning process. Yet, the fans flocked to the Staples Center in hopes of watching the crazy Mexican-American heavyweight capture lightning with a Mexican left hook.

It didn’t happen but Arreola was still young.

Perhaps the closest the Riverside heavyweight came to achieving his heavyweight title dreams was in May 2014 at the Galen Center at USC when he fought Bermane Stiverne for the second time on a Goossen Promotions card.

“With Stiverne I was ready for that fight and ready to take that title,” said Arreola who was ahead on two score cards when Stiverne caught him with a knockout blow. “I was winning the fight.”

It would be Goossen’s last heavyweight title fight card and also the last time anyone would see the beloved Southern California promoter. At the time very few were aware the gregarious promoter was suffering from cancer. Months later, Goossen would pass away.

Other supporters of Arreola would pass away too.

Back when Arreola first started his heavyweight journey his original trainer Andy Suarez died in 2006. Goossen passed away in September 2014, cut man Willie Schunke died in 2015 and journalist Bill O’Neil in 2018.

All believed Arreola could be a heavyweight world champion when he started boxing professionally in 2003.

Hilltop Gym

Those memories of Arreola training in that hilltop gym as Schunke and O’Neill discussed boxing history and the old days remain permanently etched in the minds of everyone who was there. Or the lunches held at Sisley’s Italian Kitchen in Sherman Oaks at the foot of the office building that Goossen called headquarters.

Maybe that’s why Arreola chose to train with Joe Goossen the brother of the late great promoter Dan Goossen.

“The reason I went with Joe Goossen, I’ve known Joe for many years ever since the Jose Luis Castillo-Diego Corrales fight,” said Arreola on Goossen who trained Corrales for that epic fight in 2005. “I’ve always wanted to keep it in the family. He’s old school, very old school. He is very methodical every minute of training camp. It was a great experience.”

Or maybe it was an attempt to rekindle moments from the past, those unbreakable ties and memories like Indian Willie’s two bull dogs “Sherman” and “Tank” who passed away during a scorching Riverside heat wave. The two canines would often scurry around the gym licking the small children who entered the boxing facility including Arreola’s then young daughter. Or perhaps it was listening to O’Neill describe some of the battles Jerry Quarry had with little known heavyweights like George “Scrap Iron” Johnson who was small but fearsome.

Some moments are more valuable than championship belts.

“If I lose there’s no reason to be in the sport of boxing, I’m too old to be doing that. It’s a win or go home thing,” said Arreola. “I know Adam worked his head off to get me out of this sport of boxing but I’m not ready to go home.”

On Saturday, the Riverside heavyweight looks to continue the journey of a thousand memories.

Boxing Notes

Roy Englebrecht Events presents a boxing card at the Gardens Casino in Hawaiian Gardens, Calif. on Saturday. Aug. 3.

A number of gifted prospects including Michael Norato and Triantafyllos Mavidis are ready to perform in separate bouts at the casino located off the 605-Freeway.

Englebrecht has been providing boxing shows for decades and also teaches a class on the art of promoting.

Doors open at 6 p.m. For more information call (949) 760-3131 or go to this link: www.battleintheballroom.com

Ramirez-Hooker Another FOY Candidate

Several recent fights have propelled boxing to another level including last week’s super lightweight unification world title fight between Jose Carlos Ramirez and Maurice Hooker. It’s definitely a candidate for Fight of the Year.

It was also one of those rare instances when two world champions crossed over to other media realms to challenge each other.

Top Rank’s Ramirez who holds the WBC super lightweight title was allowed to crossover from ESPN to DAZN to challenge WBO titlist Hooker in Arlington, Texas. What transpired was an incredible battle between two equally talented fighters in a fight that lasted six incredible rounds.

It was breathtaking while it lasted.

Ramirez won by knockout but until that final moment no one knew who would ultimately win.

“It just wasn’t my night,” said Hooker. “Ramirez is a great fighter, but it was his time. I’ll be back and better than ever in my next fight – I can tell you that.”

Cheers to both media outlets for allowing the fight to happen and for the rival promotion company’s willingness to work with each other.

Fights to Watch

Thurs. UFC Fight Pass 5:30 p.m. PT – Erik Walker (18-2) vs Jose Abreu (14-5).

Fri. UFC Fight Pass 7 p.m. PT – Eva Wahlstrom (22-1-1) vs Ronica Jeffrey (17-1).

Fri. Telemundo 11:35 p.m. PT – Yomar Alamo (16-0) vs Salvador Briceno (16-4).

Sat. ESPN+ 2 p.m. PT – Michael Conlan (11-0) vs Diego Alberto Ruiz (21-2).

Sat. FOX 6 p.m. PT – Chris Arreola (38-5-1) vs Adam Kownacki (19-0).

Check out more boxing news on video at The Boxing Channel

To comment on this story in The Fight Forum CLICK HERE

Post Views: 0

Share The Sweet Science experience!

David A. Avila

Up Next

The Pendulum of Guilt Wobbles and Then Steadies

Don't Miss

It’s a Festival in Belfast and Michael Conlan is the Chief Attraction

Avila Perspective, Chap. 289: East LA, Claressa Shields and More

Published

1 day ago

July 25, 2024

David A. Avila

Avila-Perspective-Chap-289-East-L.A.-A-Fight-Town-Claressa-Shields-and-More

Avila Perspective, Chap. 289: East LA, Claressa Shields and More

East Los Angeles has long been a haven for some of the best fighters around if you can keep them out of trouble. For every Oscar De La Hoya or Seniesa Estrada there are thousands derailed by crime, drugs or drinking.

Boxing has always been a favorite sport of East L.A. Every family has an uncle or two who boxes.

On Friday, 360 Promotions’ Omar Trinidad (15-0-1) fights Viktor Slavinskyi (15-2-1) in the main event at Commerce Casino, in Commerce, CA. UFC Fight Pass will stream the fight card.

The City of Commerce used to be part of East L.A. until 1960 when it incorporated. It’s still considered to be part of East Los Angeles, but informally.

Plenty of fighters come out of East L.A. but few make it all the way like De La Hoya and Estrada. Will Trinidad be the one?

The first world champion from East L.A. or “East Los” as some call it, was Solly Garcia Smith back in the late 1800s. Others were Richie Lemos, Art Frias and Joey Olivo. There is also 1984 Olympic gold medalist Paul Gonzalez.

Once again 360 Promotions brings its popular brand of fights to the area. On this fight card includes two female bouts. One features Roxy Verduzco (1-0) the former amateur star fighting Colleen Davis (3-1-1) in a featherweight fight.

All that action takes place on Friday.

Elite Boxing

The next day, also in East L.A., Elite Boxing stages another boxing card at Salesian High School located at 960 S. Soto Street in the Boyle Heights area of East Los Angeles.

Elite Boxing has promoted several successful boxing cards at the Catholic high school grounds. The area is saturated by many of the best eateries in Los Angeles. Don’t take my word for it. Check it out yourself and grab some of that delicious food.

Boxing has long been a favorite sport of anyone who lives in East L.A. It’s a fight town equal to Philadelphia, Brooklyn or Detroit. There’s something different about the area. For more than 100 years some of the best fighters continue to come out of its boxing gyms. Some will be performing on these club shows.

For tickets or information go to www.eliteboxingusa.com

Claressa Shields in Detroit

Speaking of fight towns, pound-for-pound best Claressa Shields who won two Olympic Gold Medals in boxing, moves up another weight division to tackle the WBC heavyweight world champion Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse on Saturday, July 27, at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan.

DAZN will stream the heavy-duty fight card.

Shields (14-0) cleaned out the super welterweight, middleweight and super middleweight divisions and now wants to add the big girls to her conquests. She will be facing Canada’s Lepage-Joanisse (7-1) who holds the WBC belt.

The last time Shields gloved up was more than a year ago when she fought Maricela Cornejo. Don’t blame Shields. She loves to fight. She loves to win. The last time Shields lost a fight was in the amateurs and that was three presidential administrations ago.

Shields doesn’t lose.

I wonder if Las Vegas even takes bets on her fights?

The only fight she may have been an underdog was against Savannah Marshall who was the last opponent to defeat her. And that was in 2012 in China. When they met as pros two years ago, Shields avenged her loss with a blistering attack.

Don’t get Shields mad.

Perhaps her toughest foe as a pro was in her pro debut when she clashed with Franchon Crews-Dezurn in Las Vegas. It was four rounds of fists and fury as the two pounded each other on the undercard of Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev in November 2016.

That was a ferocious debut for both female pugilists.

Assisting Shields on this fight card will be several intriguing male bouts. One guy you should pay special attention is Tito Mercado (15-0, 14 KOs) a super lightweight prospect from Pomona, California.

Many excellent fighters have come out of Pomona including Sugar Shane Mosley, Shane Mosley Jr., Alberto Davila and Richie Sandoval who just passed away this week.

Sandoval was best known for his 15-round war with Philadelphia’s Jeff Chandler for the bantamweight world title in 1984. Read the story by Arne K. Lang on this link: https://tss.ib.tv/boxing/featured-boxing-articles-boxing-news-videos-rankings-and-results/81467-former-world-bantamweight-champion-richie-sandoval-passes-away-at-age-63 .

Fights to Watch

Fri. UFC Fight Pass 7 p.m. Omar Trinidad (15-0-1) vs Viktor Slavinskyi (15-2-1).

Sat. ESPN+ 12:30 p.m. Joe Joyce (16-2) vs Derek Chisora (34-13).

Sat. DAZN 3 p.m. Claressa Shields (14-0) vs Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse (7-1), Michel Rivera (25-1) vs Hugo Roldan (22-2-1); Tito Mercado (15-0) vs Hector Sarmiento (21-2).

Omar Trinidad photo by Lina Baker

To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE

Post Views: 0

Share The Sweet Science experience!

Arne’s Almanac: Jake Paul and Women’s Boxing, a Curmudgeon’s Take

Published

3 days ago

July 24, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Arne's-Almanac-Jake-Paul-and-Women's-Boxing-a-Curmudgeon's-Take

Jake Paul can fight more than a little. The view from here is that he would make it interesting against any fringe contender in the cruiserweight division. However, Jake’s boxing acumen pales when paired against his skill as a flim-flam artist.

Jake brought a 9-1 record into last weekend’s bout with Mike Perry. As noted by boxing writer Paul Magno, Jake’s previous opponents consisted of “a You Tuber, a retired NBA star, five retired MMA stars, a part-time boxer/reality TV star, and two undersized and inactive fall-guy boxers.”

Mike Perry, a 32-year-old Floridian, was undefeated (6-0, 3 KOs) as a bare-knuckle boxer after forging a 14-8 record in UFC bouts. In pre-fight blurbs, Perry was billed as the baddest bare knuckle boxer of all time, but against Jake Paul he proved to have very unrefined skills as a conventional boxer which Team Paul undoubtedly knew all along. Perry lasted into the eighth round in a one-sided fight that could have been stopped a lot sooner.

Jake Paul is both a boxer and a promoter. As a promoter, he handles Amanda Serrano, one of the greatest female boxers in history. That makes him the person most responsible (because the buck stops with him) for the wretched mismatch in last Saturday’s co-feature, the bout between Serrano and Stevie Morgan.

Morgan, who took up boxing two years ago at age 33, brought a 14-1 record. Nicknamed the Sledgehammer, she had won 13 of her 14 wins by knockout, eight in the opening round. However, although she resides in Florida, all but one of those 13 knockouts happened in Colombia.

“We found that in Colombia there were just more opportunities for women’s boxing than in the United States,” she told a prominent boxing writer whose name we won’t mention.

The truth is that, for some folks, Colombia is the boxing equivalent of a feeder lot for livestock, a place where a boxer can go to fatten their record. The opportunities there were no greater than in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1995. It was there that Peter McNeeley prepped for his match with Mike Tyson with a 6-second knockout of professional punching bag Frankie Hines. (Six seconds? So it would be written although no one seems to have been there to witness it.)

Serrano vs Morgan was understood to be a stay-busy fight for Amanda whose rematch with Katie Taylor was postponed until November. Stevie Morgan, to her credit, answered the bell for the second round whereas others in her situation would have remained on the stool and invented an injury to rationalize it. Thirty-eight seconds later it was all over and Ms. Morgan was free to go home and use her sledgehammer to do some light dusting.

The Paul-Perry and Serrano-Morgan fights played out in a sold-out arena in Tampa before an estimated 17,000. Those without a DAZN subscription paid $64.95 for the livestream. Paul’s next promotion, where he will touch gloves with 58-year-old Mike Tyson (unless Iron Mike pulls a Joe Biden and pulls out; a capital idea) with Serrano-Taylor II the semi-main, will almost certainly rake in more money than any other boxing promotion this year.

Asked his opinion of so-called crossover boxing by a reporter for a college newspaper, the venerable boxing promoter Bob Arum said, “It’s not my bag but folks who don’t like it shouldn’t get too worked up over it because no one is stealing from anybody.” True enough, but for some of us, the phenomenon is distressing.

—

The next big women’s fight happens Saturday in Detroit where Claressa Shields seeks a world title in a third weight class against WBC heavyweight belt-holder Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse.

A two-time Olympic gold medalist, undefeated in 14 fights as a pro, Shields is very good, arguably the best female boxer of her generation which makes her, arguably, the best female boxer of all time. But turning away Lepage-Joanisse (7-1, 2 KOs) won’t elevate her stature in our eyes.

Purportedly 17-4 as an amateur, the Canadian won her title in her second crack at it. Back in August of 2017, she challenged Cancun’s Alejandra Jimenez in Cancun and was stopped in the third round. Entering the bout, Lepage-Joanisse was 3-0 as a pro and had never fought a match slated for more than four rounds.

Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse

True, on the women’s side, the heavyweight bracket is a very small pod. A sanctioning body has to make concessions to harness a sanctioning fee. Nonetheless, how absurd that a woman who had answered the bell for only 11 rounds would be deemed qualified to compete for a world title. (FYI: Alejandra Jimenez was purportedly born a man. She left the sport with a 12-0-1 record after her win over Franchon Crews Dazurn was changed to a no-contest when she tested positive for the banned steroid stanozolol.)

Following her defeat to Jimenez, Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse, now 29 years old, was out of action for six-and-a-half years. When she returned, she was still a heavyweight, but a much slender heavyweight. She carried 231 pounds for Jimenez. In her most recent bout where she captured the vacant WBC title with a split decision over Argentina’s Abril Argentina Vidal, she clocked in at 173 ¼. (On the distaff side, there’s no uniformity among the various sanctioning bodies as to what constitutes a heavyweight.)

Claressa Shields doesn’t need Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse to reinforce her credentials as a future Hall of Famer. She made the cut a long time ago.

To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE

Post Views: 0

Share The Sweet Science experience!

Former World Bantamweight Champion Richie Sandoval Passes Away at Age 63

Published

4 days ago

July 22, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Former-World-Bamtamweight-Champion-Richie-Sandoval-Passes-Away-at-age-63

Richie Sandoval, who won the WBA and lineal bantamweight title in one of the biggest upsets of the 1980s and then, not quite two years later, suffered near-fatal injuries in a title defense, has passed away at the age of 63.

News circulated fast in the Las Vegas boxing community on Monday, July 22, the grapevine actuated by a tweet from Hall of Fame matchmaker Bruce Trampler: “Boxing and the Top Rank family lost one of our own last night in the passing of former WBA bantamweight champion Richie Sandoval. It hurts personally and professionally to know that Richie is gone at age 63. RIP campeon.”

Details are vague but the cause of death was apparently a sudden heart attack that Sandoval experienced while visiting the Southern California home of his son of the same name.

Richie Sandoval put the LA County community of Pomona, California, on the boxing map before Shane Mosley came along and gave the town a more frequently-cited mention in the sports section of the papers. He came from a fighting family. An older brother, Albert “Superfly” Sandoval, became a big draw at LA’s fabled Olympic Auditorium while building a 35-2-1 record that included a failed bid to capture Lupe Pintor’s world bantamweight title.

Richie was a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic boxing team that was stranded when U.S. President Jimmy Carter (and many other world leaders) boycotted the event as a protest against Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan.

As a pro, Sandoval’s signature win was a 15^th-round stoppage of Jeff Chandler. They fought on April 7, 1984 in Atlantic City. Chandler was making the tenth defense of his world bantamweight title.

Despite being a heavy underdog, Sandoval dominated the fight, winning almost every round until the referee stepped in and waived it off. Chandler, who was 33-1-2 heading in and had avenged his lone defeat, never fought again.

Sandoval made two successful defenses before risking his title against Gaby Canizales on the undercard of Hagler-Mugabi in the outdoor stadium at Caesars Palace. In round seven, Sandoval, who had a hellish time making the weight, was knocked down three times and suffered a seizure as he collapsed from the third knockdown. Stretchered out of the ring, he was rushed to the hospital where doctors reduced the swelling in his brain and beat the odds to save his life. This would be Richie’s lone defeat. He finished his pro career with a record of 29-1 (17 KOs).

Bob Arum cushioned some of the pain by giving Richie a $25,000 bonus and offering him a lifetime job at Top Rank which Richie accepted. And let the record show that Arum was good to his word.

A more elaborate portrait of Richie Sandoval was published in these pages in 2017. You can check it out HERE. May he rest in peace.

To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE

Post Views: 0

Share The Sweet Science experience!