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CHRIS ARREOLA W12 MANUEL QUEZADA

ONTARIO, CA, Aug. 13

Although Chris Arreola battered his way to victory over Manuel Quezada on Friday Night Fights  I think we can say that this was a disappointing performance by the heavyweight contender — there were even some boos from a restless home-area crowd in the sluggish middle rounds.
 
The finish of the fight was somewhat exciting, with Arreola dropping Quezada twice in the ninth and flooring him again in the last round. Far from the improved performance that Arreola had promised, I thought I saw signs of decline.
 
Arreola was wide open to any punch that Quezada threw. Quezada, in fact, couldn’t miss him in this clash of Mexican-American heavyweights. If Quezada had been a harder puncher one wonders what the eventual outcome might have been. As it was, Arreola’s nose was bloodied by the sixth round and he finished the 12-rounder with his eyes puffy and battered, and blood inside the mouth.
 
Quezada fought a game, tough, competent fight. He comes out of the contest with considerable credit even though he lost by wide margins on the scorecards.
 
Arreola won by being bigger, stronger and heavier handed. It was like two trucks meeting on a one-way street and the bigger one inexorably pushing the other one back.
 
I noticed in the first round that Arreola seemed to be pushing his right hand. There seemed no real snap in Arreola’s punches. Quezada was like a man being buffeted by a padded door that kept swinging into him — not the most pleasant experience in the world but unlikely to separate him from his senses.
 
Finally, the sheer weight of Arreola’s assaults was what appeared to beat Quezada to the canvas — although the left uppercut from Arreola in round nine was a very well delivered blow. Arreola couldn’t keep the game underdog down, however.
 
This was a gruelling slog for Arreola against a boxer who, gritty and stubborn though he proved to be, is not a fighter on the higher plateau of the heavyweight division.
 
Arreola will always make for entertaining fights because he takes punches to land them, but I have to ask myself if this bout really should have been such a bruising ordeal for him, and I have to answer that no, it shouldn’t.