Hit the road, Chris: Heavyweight Arreola finally starts jogging to prepare for Klitschko

Arreola finally hits road to prep for Klitschko

LOS ANGELES — If anybody still doubts Chris Arreola’s determination to become the first boxer of Mexican heritage to win a world heavyweight title, he wants it known that he has taken an unprecedented step in his unbeaten career.

Arreola has actually started jogging.

In preparation for his Sept. 26 meeting with Vitali Klitschko in Los Angeles, Arreola is three weeks into a conditioning program that includes a daily morning run. That’s second nature to most boxers, but it’s a revolutionary step for the hulking, 6-foot-4 fighter from Riverside, Calif., who essentially muscled and mauled his way to this pinnacle of his career.

“I’ve always won or lost in the boxing gym, but now I’m learning that there’s more than just being in the boxing gym,” Arreola said Thursday while appearing at Staples Center with Klitschko. “I hate running, but you’ve got to do it. My main thing now is conditioning. My morning workouts, my eating, the way I conduct myself, that’s all part of it.”

Arreola (27-0, 24 KOs) is an early underdog to take the WBC heavyweight title from Klitschko (37-2, 36 KOs), who traded declarations of respect with his 10-years-younger opponent in a civilized news conference. With a frequently flabby ring physique and his general easygoing nature, Arreola sometimes has been thought to be lacking the dedication to become a champion.

His trainer, Henry Ramirez, has seen a change in Arreola since the fight was signed last month when David Haye backed out of a plan to fight Klitschko. Ramirez had suggested doing road work, or hiring a strength and conditioning coach, for several previous fights, but Arreola finally agreed to it this time.

He has been diligent about his morning runs, though his displeasure is obvious.

“It’s been kind of funny,” Ramirez said with a grin. “He’s also doing core drills that will keep him strong in a long fight. We’ve put it out there for fights in the past, but Chris always said no. Klitschko is the first opponent where he really felt he had to stretch himself and give everything he had to it.”

While Klitschko looked the part of a cultured, well-schooled 38-year-old European businessman who lives part of the year in Los Angeles, Arreola looked like a fighter, with his suit jacket draping a T-shirt reading: “I am the Mexican American Dream.”

Arreola said the prospect of making Mexican boxing history hadn’t impressed him nearly as much as Klitschko’s skills on film.

“I watched his Lennox Lewis fight (at Staples Center in 2003), and I was like, ‘I’ve got to fight him?’” he said with a laugh.

Yet Klitschko, who hasn’t lost in five fights since then, has thought about the historic aspects of his third main-event fight at Staples Center — more than any boxer, including Los Angeles-area natives Oscar De La Hoya, whose statue sits in the pavilion out front, and Sugar Shane Mosley.

“It’s my first fight with a Mexican, and I know every Mexican boxer has a big heart,” Klitschko said. “Not just a big heart, but a big knockout punch. Every morning, I go to the gym and think about Chris Arreola. I think about how I can beat him. It’s interesting for me.”

While Arreola was born in East Los Angeles, Klitschko adopted Los Angeles as one of his three homes in 2000, said Tom Loeffler, the managing director of the Klitschko brothers’ K-2 Promotions. Klitschko also lives in Hamburg, Germany, and his native Ukraine, but was eager to fight again where his children were born.

“We have a tough time bringing a Klitschko fight to the U.S. because they’re so popular in Europe,” Loeffler said. “Bernd (Boente, the brothers’ business manager in Germany) has done such a good job marketing them. But (Vitali) has a lot of friends in L.A., and he’s always liked the atmosphere. Against Chris, this is the natural place for this fight.”