Joey Abell looking to put Chris Arreola’s title hopes on “Ice”
After his fourth round TKO victory over Brian Minto at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on Dec. 5, 2009, Chris Arreola and his trainer Henry Ramirez posed for this photo when leaving the ring. Photo credit: Jim Wyatt
Not too long ago, Cristobal Arreola had 27 pro fights and 27 victories and was ranked as the #1 contender and arguably the most popular and exciting heavyweight to come along since Iron Mike Tyson. However, those jaunty thoughts evaporated after his title shot loss to Vitali Klitschko. Our local hero, a resident of Escondido, California, then ballooned up to 263 pounds for his next fight and has been criticized ever since for his lack of commitment. Especially after loosing to the undersized Tomasz Adamek.
Now 29-2 (25 KOs) Arreola is hoping to gain back the respect he once had by taking on Joey “Minnesota Ice” Abell (27-4, 26 KOs) in a scheduled 10-round main event of an ESPN2 “Friday Night Fights” to be telecast at the Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula, California on January 28, 2011, at 7 p.m. PST.
Arreola, now 29-years-old, will have his hands full facing Abell who has a similar knockout ratio, a powerful left and stiff jab and most likely a difficult to understand Minnesota accent.
Even though he has the size and strength, Joey Abell (left) has never faced the likes of Chris “the Nightmare” Arreola.
Since Abell, the Coon Rapids, Minnesota native, has his own website, he’s already told readers his thoughts on the upcoming fight. “In my mind it’s a do or die fight for him (Arreola) and I expect he will try and do more to get in shape for me. I cannot listen to all the negativity about Chris or else I might come in less prepared than I need to be. After all, he once fought for the world heavyweight title, so he’s the best opponent I will have faced in my career so far. I’m not sure Chris will use that negativity as motivation to get into shape since he hasn’t yet in his most recent fights. However, this is a do or die fight for me also. I need to beat a fighter of Chris’ caliber if I hope to get a shot at a world title. That said, I’m gonna win and I’m gonna win early; definitely inside of 10 rounds regardless of what type of condition he’s in.”
Abell, who was born in Winneconne, Wisconsin, is the second oldest of five children. In high school he was the starting defensive end on a football team that went to state finals. He set the single season sack record that year and in his senior year was selected for the all Conference, all Metro, and all State Teams.
He then played defensive end and long snapper in college at South Dakota State. Even though he was invited to the NFL combine and had conversations with NFL teams, nothing ever panned out. His next option was to return to boxing. He started boxing in the eighth grade and boxed in Golden Gloves until turning pro in 2005. He went to multiple National bouts representing Upper Midwest Boxing.
His credentials include a November 2007 decision win over then-unbeaten Teke Oruh (14-0-1), the only boxer to go the distance in any of Abell’s victories. In 2008 he suffered three straight losses, then resurrected his career with seven straight knockout wins. His most recent outing consisted of a fourth-round TKO of Arron Lyons back in July in St. Paul, Minnesota.
In Arreola’s last bout, he floored Manuel Quezada twice in the ninth round and dropped him a third time in the final round but failed to finish him off. After the fight ended it was established that Arreola had hurt his hand.
From the fight films it appears Abell is a big strong guy with a puffed-up record. Since his defense is spotty, many of his opponents have been able to walk right in and land punches on him. He’s fearless and so is Arreola. With their toe to toe brawling styles it’s almost certain the fight won’t go the distance.
Prediction: Arreola wins by TKO in the seventh round.
