th Anniversary celebration of Chicano Park Day

    Earlier this week, at a swanky steak house, located inside of the San Manuel Indian and Bingo Casino in San Bernardino, California, I had the opportunity to sit down with a man that is considered to be boxing’s “Great Brown Hope” — heavyweight contender  Cristobal Arreola (28-1, 25 KOs). Known as The Nightmare, Arreola, 29, has dreams of becoming the sports first heavyweight champion of Mexican heritage. Tomorrow night, he will take a big step towards his goal when he takes on Poland’s Tomasz Adamek (40-1, 27 KOs) in a highly anticipated heavyweight collision. The scheduled 12-round affair will originate from the Citizens Bank Arena in Ontario, California and will be televised on HBO’s Boxing After Dark.

    During our interview, a noticeably leaner Arreola touched on several topics pertaining to tomorrow night’s bout. But his eyes lit-up, when I informed him that he was fighting on the same day as the celebration of the 40th anniversary of Chicano Park. On April 22, 1970, in the community of Barrio Logan, the 7.9 acre park played a major part in the Chicano movement. On that day, residents, and activists came together to protest the edifice of what was to be a highway patrol station. With the community already reeling from the infestation of junkyards, and other hazardous industries, the residents rallied together in an effort to preserve the land for the children, and for future generations. After twelve arduous days of work, determination, and struggle, the developers decided to back- off. The creation of the park was a major victory for the community, and would go on to become a future symbol of hope.

    Arreola explained that he became familiar with the historic park by watching a television show on the subject of it on the History Channel. “That’s the one with the murals, right?  An interested Arreola asked. I explained the historical significance of the park, and how the community comes together every year to commemorate the anniversary. When asked if he wanted to offer a message to everyone attending Chicano Park Day, he did not hesitate. The 6’4″ 260-pounder became filled with pride and in true Arreola fashion, he proceeded with the following — “Hopefully, you guys are watching the fight, and whoever is watching, man, I guarantee you I’m going to make you guy’s proud to be Mexican, and you know I’m going to knock another Mother F—— out! And it’s Chicano pride, and Mexican pride to the fullest.”

    If you are alarmed, or offended by his choice of language, you are not alone. Arreola has been heavily criticized in the past for his heavy use of a certain four-letter word. Last September after a one-sided loss to World Boxing Council champion Vitail Klitschko, Arreola launched into a tearful tirade- equipped with f-bombs. The display of emotion prompted the WBC’s board of governors to ban Arreola from competing for a period of six-months. “People who have told me in order to be more marketable that I need to tone it down with my language. I can’t do that because I cannot be what I am not. I have to keep it real.” Arreola said in response to the ban.

    For the record, Arreola doesn’t consider himself as a role-model, but he understands the role that he plays in the Latino community. “When kids say I want to be like you, I say don’t be like me, be better than me.” Arreola said. “You don’t ever want to be like somebody, you want to be better than them, that’s what is going to distinguish yourself from somebody, that’s what I always tell people. But it’s hard to be a role-model, because you know your human, you make mistakes, everybody makes mistakes.”

    Trying to limit the ‘mistakes’ is something that trainer Henry Ramirez has been trying to work on, he is pleased with the progress that Cristobal has made. Throughout the duration of the 10-week training camp, Ramirez has sensed a renewed vigor in his pupil. “Just his attitude towards everything, it wasn’t such a pain in the ass to get him to work” Ramirez said. So what has been the difference between this camp, and previous ones? “Just growing up, having a much simpler personal life” Ramirez said. “All that correlates to his work in the gym.”  Evidence of the hard work was on display this week, as Arreola showed-off his new- lighter physique. As of this past Monday, he was walking around at a weight of 250-pounds, his lightest in years. Ramirez feels that the time, and effort put forth in the gym will translate to a big win for his guy, “Arreola in 8, or 9-rounds” is his official prediction.

The Nightmare to attend next year’s Chicano Park Day?

    At the conclusion of our interview, Arreola would go on to say that he hopes to make it to next year’s Chicano park Day celebration. By the time Chicano Park day arrives next year, Arreola could very well be the heavyweight champion. If that were to come into fruition, it would be quite a scene to see boxing’s first Chicano heavyweight champion standing side-by-side with the residents of Barrio Logan.

Not so fast

    Before any talk of championships could occur, Cristobal must first take care of business tomorrow night. In Tomasz Adamek, Arreola is facing one of the fiercest competitors in the sport. Like his opponent, Tomasz has his own championship aspirations, and plans to make history later this year. “I’m on a mission to do something no boxer has ever done. I want to be the first light heavyweight, cruiserweight and heavyweight world champion. So I’m fighting for myself and history.”  Fighting with a heavy heart, Tomasz is also dedicating his bout tomorrow night to the memory of Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife, and the 96 people that lost their lives in a tragic plane crash in Western Russia on April 10th. “Every Pole feels the grief right now and every Pole is touched by this, and we have no idea how we will rebuild this” Adamek said in a teleconference held last week.  “I was invited to have breakfast with President Lech Kaczynski after my fight with Chris and I know he was a big fan of boxing and soccer. I have a very deep faith and I am strong because of this faith, and I draw from my religious experiences to stay strong.”

EL GRAN CHISME

Escondido?

    Leading up to the fight, various outlets have listed Arreola’s residence as being in Escondido. I found that a little odd, as Escondido has been in the news lately for providing a rather hostile environment towards Latinos. I decided to get some clarity on the matter by asking Arreola’s trainer Henry Ramirez. “He’s not from Escondido” Ramirez said laughing. So where did these outlets get this information? Ramirez said that it happened after Arreola’s last fight against Brian Minto. “In his last fight, he was talking about how he liked Alberto’s restaurant, and he said there was one by him. Alberto’s is based in Escon-dido, that’s where the corporate is, and someone just put it on the internet that he’s from Escondido, he’s from Riverside.” So has ‘The Nightmare’ ever been to Escondido?  “He probably doesn’t even know where Escondido is if you ask him” Ramirez said laughing. Come to think of it, I’m sure Escondido Councilwoman Olga Diaz wouldn’t mind if Arreola moved into town. With all the flak that she’s been taking over her stance on the controversial driver’s license checkpoints, he could serve as her personal bodyguard.

Mad dog

    Junior Middleweight, Alfredo “El Perro” Angulo is angry. The 27-year-old Mexicali native has been frustrated by the lack of promotion for his fight with Joel Julio- which is slated as the co-feature of Arreola-Adamek. Angulo has said that promoters for Arreola-Adamek have not included him in any press conferences or teleconferences in regards to the fight. In other words, they haven’t thrown the Perro a bone. Angulo will now look to take his frustrations out on dangerous Colombian puncher Joel Julio (35-3, 31 KOs). “I know everything I have to know about Julio.” Angulo said yesterday at an open workout in Los Angeles, California. He loves to come forward and he can punch. But when he comes forward on Saturday, I’ll be right in front of him. He won’t have to go looking for me.” The Angulo-Julio fight has the potential to steal the show tomorrow night. Both fighters know that a win would place them in a prime position to compete for a title later this year. Angulo is coming off an impressive victory last November of Harry Joe Yorgey.