"I will take a knockout whenever it comes. I don't care if it's the beginning of a fight or the end of the fight. I always look for the knockout. That's my thing. And the way you look for the knockout is to set up punches and combinations and set things up by setting traps...I have something to prove, man. This is my first time being on a major network in over a year. Last time I was on a major network was the Adamek fight and I fucking lost to him, and I should have never lost to him. I hate losing and I hate talking about that fight because I should have never lost to him. So now, I'm back on a major network and making major money and the thing is man, I want to make believers out of skeptics," stated heavyweight contender Chris Arreola, who talked about his upcoming February 18 return to the ring this year to face Eric Molina. Check out what else he had to say!
PC: How have you been big dog?
CA: I've been good, man. I've been real good.
PC: It's crazy because I have talked to a lot of fighters, mainly heavyweights, that kind of want to steal your blueprint. You fought 5 times last year and that's something we don't see much of these days. How much did that activity help you?
CA: Pretty good, man. I love fighting. I love boxing and I love fighting, dude. Honestly, I could have fit in another fight. I was trying to get another fight in on New Year's Eve, but the whole card fell through. We were trying to get 6 fights last year. That would have been cool.
PC: Is the goal this year to stay equally as active as last, or do you want to scale that back a little bit?
CA: Absolutely. I want to fight at least 4 or 5 times this year. I want to fight because I love fighting, man. That's what I do. That's my bread and butter, man. What am I gonna do at home? Nothing but get fat.
PC: Henry Ramirez really likes you being active, and even more so, he loves your dedication to your craft now. Not only does fighting this often make you continue to grow as a fighter, but like you said, it keeps you in shape.
CA: Yeah man, there is no better workout than boxing and my thing is, especially if you are getting ready to be a boxer, if you are going to be a boxer, boxing is the way to workout. That's the way it is. That's how you perfect your craft and do what you do. It's like a fucking carpenter going out to do some welding. You can't be doing that shit.
PC: February 18th against Eric Molina in Corpus Christi, Texas. What do you see from Molina?
CA: He is a very active fighter, man. He is extremely active. He throws a lot of punches, he's pretty rangy, but he is still a little green. But he is very hungry and that's the main thing. You can see it in his eyes and the way he talks and carries himself. He is a hungry fighter and he has something to prove, and I'm his Superbowl. That's the way that I feel; everybody is going to come in the best shape that they can to fight me, so I'm going to have to come in great shape to fight him because he has something to prove himself. He is a Mexican and he's very prideful, so it should call for an exciting fight.
PC: What are some of the things that you want to showcase in this fight?
CA: I just want to do what I do; fight, man. I just want to come in good boxing shape and hone my skills. There are a lot of things that I think the public really hasn't seen out of me, man. They really don't know that I'm able to do a lot of fucking lateral movement or move my head and use angles. So that's one thing that I'm going to use against Molina here because to me, he looks like he is still green. That's something that I have to showcase in this fight.
PC: Something that you had a lot of success with early in your career, and somewhere in the middle you abandoned it, but recently went back to using is your jab. Your jab used to set up your right hand and I see you kind of getting back to that now...
CA: (Cutting in) The jab is very important, man; extremely important. What happened was I started to believe my hype and thought I was a fucking one-punch knockout artist. I'm not at all. I've never been a one-punch knockout dude. I have always had to set up my knockouts by accumulation of punches, and it all falls back to using my jab.
PC: Being in better shape helps your work rate too, and like you said, Molina is a volume puncher, so you're going to have to outwork him to some degree. Is that the mindset coming in?
CA: Here is my thing, I will take a knockout whenever it comes. I don't care if it's the beginning of a fight or the end of the fight. I always look for the knockout. That's my thing. And the way you look for the knockout is to set up punches and combinations and set things up by setting traps. That's the main thing that I'm going to have to try and find a way to do against Molina is trap him. I'm not saying that he's not going to come in shape, because he is going to come in shape and he's going to come to go the distance of the fight. The thing is I have to be smarter than him.
PC: You're saying you have to use your big fight experience against him.
CA: Exactly!
PC: You know how passionate Texas fight fans are. What can they expect from Chris Arreola on February 18th?
CA: An exciting Chris Arreola and a motivated Chris Arreola. I have something to prove, man. This is my first time being on a major network in over a year. Last time I was on a major network was the Adamek fight and I fucking lost to him, and I should have never lost to him. I hate losing and I hate talking about that fight because I should have never lost to him. So now, I'm back on a major network and making major money and the thing is man, I want to make believers out of skeptics.
PC: You definitely have the platform to do that in this fight. I know the long-term goal is to stay active this year, but what's the short-term goal? Where do you see yourself mid-year in June?
CA: I will have a win under my belt; hopefully by June, I will have had 2 fights, man. By June, the second fight should be a title fight. I don't care who it is. I don't care if it's Povetkin or if it's one of the Klitschko Brothers. If it's not one of them, then get me Adamek please!
PC: You really want that fight back, huh?
CA: Dude, I've been crying about that rematch for a long time. I hate that loss. I hate it. I hate it with a passion. It's my fault, but I hate it because it's my fault and I know it's my fault. Tomasz Adamek came into a fight prepared to fight his fight and I came into that fight to fight and not prepared to fight.
PC: Best of luck to you next month. Always appreciate the honesty and straight-forwardness. Give me some closing thoughts before I let you go my man.
CA: I guarantee y'all Corpus Christi it's going to be an exciting night, man; not only myself, but Tavoris Cloud and Paul Williams. It's going to be an exciting night of fights, but I'm going to steal the cake and I'm the one who will be the cooler talk the next day, so make sure you guys watch. You don't want to be the one to say, "Ah shit, I missed it," and then you gotta find it on YouTube.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]