Chris “The Nightmare” Arreola’s (29-2, 25 KOs) promise to be an in-shape, renewed fighter fell hollow tonight (August 13) as he won a sloppy, unimpressive decision against an overmatched Manuel Quezada (29-6, 18 KOs).
Arreola carried round one by scoring heavily with his overhand right behind the jab. In spots Quezada would attempt to come foward with his own offense only to be thwarted by Arreola’s harder punches.
Round two reversed roles with Quezada landing the consistent flurries and Arreola spending too much time looking for looping haymakers. Quezada peppered the Nightmare with straight rights only to see Arreola shake his head “no” and fire back hooks that moved Quezada across the ring. A little before the last minute, Arreola landed a nice left uppercut to the head the briefly stunned Quezada.
Manuel Quezada took a heavy shots in round three. Arreola bullied him into an corner early and smacked him with thudding right hooks to the head and digging left hooks to the body. Quezada maintained his cool and continued his workman-like combinations. The problem was the punches still had no effect, and Arreola finished the round with several overhand rights.
Even as Arreola noticably tired in the middle rounds, Quezada did not have the power or skill to punish the Nightmare for coming in six pounds higher than his last fight (256 pounds). Quezada landed pitty pat shots but showed no head or upper body movement to avoid Arreola’s slowed but still heavy bombs. In addition, Quezada showed no footwork to give Arreola angles. The slow, lumbering routine of the bout sucked the life out of the fans who at the beginning had been cheering wildly for crowd favorite Arreola.
Arreola sported a bloody mouth through which he was breathing heavily by rounds seven and eight. His shots were now no more than arm pucnhes and he welcomed clinches as opportunities to rest. But with Quezada having no power, he couldn’t make Arreola truly pay for his weakened condition.
In the ninth Arreola finally put his punches together and dropped Quezada to his knees with two overhand rights puncuated by a neck-snapping left uppercut. Quezada beat the count but was soon back on the canvas after another barrage of shots. Just barely, he survived another Arreola assault to finish the round.
The barrage had Arreola out of gas in the 10th. This time Quezada did capitalize by catching Arreola with several sharp right hands to the face. The assault surprised the Nightmare, who backpedaled and tried to work behind the jab in a very poor Muhammad Ali imitation.
Before the 12th, ESPN’s corner microphone revealed that Arreola had hurt his right hand. He was urged by his corner to suck it up and go for it in the last round. Arreola met his opponent in the center of the ring, but it was Quezada who was landing the combinations. In the round’s second half Arreola fired his damaged right hand and stunned Quezada. He followed up and overwhelmed Quezada with flurries to score another knockdown. Quezada was lucid , and rose from his knee to finish out the bout firing toe to toe.
Final scorecards for the contest read 117-108 and 118-107 twice all for Chris Arreola.
“About a C-…I could’ve did a a lot more with my jab,” Arreola said of his performance afterward. “My left hand was hurt and my right towards the end of the fight.”
On the undercard, junior welterweight Josesito Lopez (27-3, 15 KOs) won a eight round decision over Martin Cordova Jr (21-2-1, 11 KOs), after Cordova lost a point in the last round over a low blow. Scores read 77-74, 78-73 and 78-73. The opener saw undefeated Michael Ruiz Jr (5-0, 2 KOs) score a second round TKO over Matthew Salazar (1-2-1, 1 KO).
Beats, Boxing and Mayhem 