During a recent conversation, Chris Arreola's trainer, Henry Ramirez, informed us that they're looking to step up the level of competition in their next fight, scheduled for February 18 on Showtime, with the goal of preparing for an eventual showdown with WBA, IBF & WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko. "February 18th, we will be back on Showtime in Corpus Christi, Texas with Paul Williams. We are the co-feature with him and Paul together. At this point, I know there are names being discussed. I don't know who for sure," Ramirez explained. "Obviously we're looking to step him back into those fights to get people interested again...being on Showtime World Championship Boxing, it's going to be a higher caliber opponent than what he faced in 2011, someone where we can push him, and Chris is in line possibly for a Wladimir Klitschko fight after this."
Ramirez admits that 2011 was a rebuilding year for Arreola, who needed to rededicate himself to the sport. The step down in competition was necessary in order to get his weight under control and take his training more seriously. "I'll be honest, 2011 was a rebuilding year. People can say, 'Ah, he fought mediocre opposition,' but people gotta understand there is also an economic side to this sport. You're not going to get a top 10 guy on ESPN or ESPN Deportes or off TV. You're not gonna get a top 10, top 15 guy like that. This is a business and guys that are gonna fight Chris are gonna want to get paid," Ramirez continued. "2011, we wanted to keep him as active as possible, and that we did because Chris fought 5 times in '11. And the other part was to get his weight under control, which we have done that now, and we wanted to get him fully committed and to have him treat the sport the way he should be treating it which is putting it first, which he has."
With Arreola now refocused and his weight problems seemingly behind him, they now believe 2012 is the year to make a serious run for a title, and it all begins on February 18 as they look to take his career to next level. "I actually spoke to Emanuel last week on the phone for about 30 minutes. He was pretty outspoken about not wanting Klitschko to fight Tony Thompson again. We're pretty happy about the possibility down the line that Chris and Wladimir could fight, which I think would be a good fight. I think it's a fight that we want, but obviously we gotta get through February 18th and look good doing it," Ramirez added.
CHECK BACK SOON FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH HENRY RAMIREZ
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