Los Angeles, CA (November 24, 2008) – On Saturday, November 29, undefeated Cristobal “The Nightmare” Arreola will be taking what he hopes is another step toward a World Heavyweight Championship, when he defends his WBC Continental Americas title against Travis “Freight Train” Walker on the first-ever professional boxing card to be held at the new state-of-the-art Citizens Business Bank Arenain Ontario, California..
And while preparing to do battle with a hard-hitting, world class heavyweight is nothing new for the Riverside, California native with an unblemished 25-0 record including 22 knockouts, being followed around by a world class camera crew was certainly a new experience for the 27-year old Mexican-American knockout artist.
HBO Sports which will televise the Arreola-Walker contest on “HBO: Boxing After Dark” as co-feature to the interim 12-round WBO Super Welterweight Championship Bout between Paul “The Punisher” Williams and Verno Phillips, has developed a series of original human interest short features on eight promising young boxers entitled “Ring Life.” One of the principal subjects is Arreola.
“It was a pretty surreal experience having cameras with you and having to answer all kinds of questions,” Arreola conveyed. “I’m not used to it. I kept asking myself, ‘How did I get here? Is this how it’s gonna be when I’m Heavyweight Champion of the World? Overall it was a pretty cool experience.”
“Chris was extremely cooperative during production,” acknowledged Dan Klein, of Wonderland Productions, which shot the footage for HBO. “He opened up his home to us and took us inside his training. We shot inside Chris’ home, on the horse trails he uses for roadwork, at local restaurants and barbershops, on the road in his car and inside his gym.”
Arreola agreed to participate in the HBO series and allowed full access to his daily routine as he prepared for his biggest fight to date – one in which has Walker’s NABF Heavyweight title at stake and is also being sanctioned as an IBF Heavyweight Elimination bout.
“Whatever Dan (Goossen) says I am good with,” Arreola said. “I don’t question Dan. I know he asked me to do this for my own good. It’s great exposure for me. After being in boxing for 15 years, it’s finally paying off.”
“HBO is interested in profiling up and coming fighters with great back-stories,” explained Thomas Huffine, coordinating producer for this HBO short series. “The goal of this series is to build awareness of the dedication and commitment that these fighters have to realize their dreams.”
Arreola’s story will be portrayed on “Ring Life” in three separate, four-six minute segments narrated by HBO boxing commentator Jim Lampley on tonight, November 24th, December 1st and 8th. These may be seen on HBO digital media platforms including HBO.com (http://www.hbo.com/ringlife/), HBO Mobile, HBO’s YouTube Channel, and as free podcasts via Apple’s iTunes Music Store. Ring Life will also be offered on HBO On Demand as of December.
The executive producer for HBO Sports is Rick Bernstein.
O’Connor going to “school” each pro fight
FRAMINGHAM, Mass. (November 24, 2008) – Each fight is a learning experience for any young boxer and 2008 U.S. Olympic first alternate Danny O’Connor is no exception. His pro debut in September resulted in a second-round stoppage of Jose Guerrido, but his November 11th win against 15-fight veteran Anthony Woods was much more important in terms of 23-year-old O’Connor’s development process.
O’Connor (2-0, 2 KOs) pitched a shutout against fellow light welterweight Anthony Woods (5-11, 2 KOs), winning all four rounds on each of the three judge’s scorecards (40-35, 40-36, 40-36) at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida.
One invaluable lesson learned by O’Connor is that, when the action doesn’t go exactly according to pre-fight plans, adjustments must be made during the action. “It was an exciting fight to watch,” he said. “We both threw a lot of punches. He’s a tough fighter; game, coming forward throwing punches. So was I. I wanted to show more of my boxing skills than I did in my first fight. I did but not as much as I wanted to because I didn’t settled down, rather looking for a knockout, instead of boxing more. Every fight is a learning experience for me and I’m already applying what I learned from that fight in the gym. I did go four rounds and now I’m used to fighting 3-minute rounds. I can’t wait for my next fight.”
O’Connor, fighting out of Framingham (MA), won this year’s US Future Stars National Championship, in which he was named Most Outstanding Boxer, as well as the National Golden Gloves Tournament, both in the 141-pound light welterweight division. Danny’s most notable victory as an amateur was a dominating performance against eventual 2008 Olympic Gold medalist Felix Diaz, of the Dominican Republic, who O’Connor beat on May 29 in a USA-Dominican Republic dual meet.
Uncertain about the exact date of his next fight, O’Connor is working hard at the 401 Gym in Cranston, Rhode Island with his head trainer, Dave Keefe, who also co-manages Danny with Rob Valle. O’Connor is promoted by Seminole Warriors Boxing.
“Both Rob and I were glad Danny got some rounds in,” Keefe noted. “Seminole Warriors Boxing and our team are on the same page; knocking out everyone doesn’t always yield the best long-term results. These early fights are part of the learning process for Danny.”
For more information about Danny O’Connor go online to www.dannyoconnorboxing.com
Team USA Records Four Victories in the Opening Three Days of the 2008 Women’s World Championships
(COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO.) – The United States’ top female boxers opened competition at the 2008 Women’s World Championships in Ningbo City, China, over the weekend and recorded four wins in the first three days of action.
Team USA split their two bouts on the first day of preliminary competition with bantamweight Cynthia Moreno (Guadalupe, Ariz.) winning her bantamweight opener and flyweight Cheryl Houlihan (Santee, Calif.) dropping her first bout.
Moreno claimed a 10-4 decision over Cathy Metz of Germany in her first-ever World Championships contest. Yet flyweight veteran Houlihan lost a 10-1 decision to Si Yuan Li of China, eliminating her from competition.
Two more U.S. boxers added World Championships victories on the second day of AIBA Women’s World Championships action in Ningbo City on Sunday. It was two Kentucky natives recording the day’s victories as middleweight Meredith Della Giustina (Versailles, Ky.) and heavyweight Tiffanie Hearn both earned victories in their first-ever World Championships bout on the second day of action in China. Della Giustina won a 13-6 decision over Kazakhstan’s Yuldus Matmakulova while Hearn recorded a 12-2 decision over Poland’s Sylwia Kuziak.
Light middleweight Grace Parks (Bellingham, Wash.) faced a tough test in her first bout of the competition and suffered a late first round stoppage to Canada’s Arriane Fortin.
Moreno returned to the ring on the third day of competition, taking on Mongolia’s Svud-Erdene Oyungerel in second round competition. The 18-year-old earned her second consecutive win, taking a commanding 15-3 victory over Oyungerel. The win advances Moreno onto a Wednesday quarterfinal contest with India’s Yadav Sushma Kumari with the victor moving on to the medal round.
Defending light flyweight bronze medalist Marlen Esparza (Houston, Texas) dropped her opening round contest 10-2 to Sweden’s Jenny Haedingz. Featherweight Alexandria Cardenas (San Angelo, Texas) lost her opener as well, dropping a close 7-5 decision to Hungary’s Edina Pezdany.
Five U.S. boxers will compete in Tuesday’s preliminary action as light bantamweight Sacred Downing (Trenton, N.J.), lightweight Carrie Barry (Colorado Springs, Colo.), light welterweight Queen Underwood (Seattle, Wash.), and welterweight Vanessa Jackson (Columbus, Ohio) all take the ring for the first time and middleweight Meredith Della Giustina (Versailles, Ky.) competes in her second bout. Downing will face Annie Albania of the Phillipines, Barry will challenge Wen Hsien Su of Taipei, Underwood will take on Canada’s Kathleen Dunn, Jackson will box Australia’s Naomi-Lee Fischer-Rasmussen and Della Giustina will close the day in a contest with Canada’s Amber Konkikow.
The team is being led by coaches Ted Palac (Hamtramck, Mich.), Harry Thomas (Stafford, Texas), and Bonnie Canino (Dania Beach, Fla.) The most up-to-date results for the 2008 AIBA Women’s World championships can be found on AIBA’s website at www.aiba.org. The AIBA site will be showing live scoring for all of the bouts throughout the tournament as well.
U.S. Results
Monday, November 24
Preliminary Bouts
106 lbs: Jenny Haedingz, SWE, dec. Marlen Esparza, Houston, Texas/USA, 10-2
119 lbs: Cynthia Moreno, Guadalupe, Ariz./USA dec. Svud-Erdene Oyungerel, MGL, 15-3
125 lbs: Edina Pezdany, HUN, dec. Alexandria Cardenas, San Angelo, Texas/USA, 7-5
Sunday, November 23
Preliminary Bouts
154 lbs: Arianne Fortin, CAN, stopped Grace Parks, Bellingham, Wash./USA, RSC-1 (2:00)
165 lbs: Meredith Della Giustina, Versailles, Ky./USA dec. Yuldus Matmakulova, KAZ, 13-6
189 lbs: Tiffanie Hearn, Louisville, Ky./USA dec. Sylwia Kuziak, POL, 12-2
Saturday, November 22
Preliminary Bouts
110 lbs: Si Yuan Li, CHN, dec. Cheryl Houlihan, Santee, Calif./USA, 10-1
119 lbs: Cynthia Moreno, Phoenix, Ariz./USA dec. Cindy Metz, GER, 10-4
USA Boxing, as the national governing body for Olympic-style boxing, is the United States’ member organization of the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) and a member of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC).