Heard Steve Kim mention it twice now, but haven't heard anything anywhere else...

Personally, I think it could be a pretty entertaining slugfest. I'd definitely be interested in seeing it.

HBO needs to stop buying fighters and buy fights, might as well get Pavlik vs Lockett in a rematch.

Awww, c'mon bro.

Arreola/Minto is 10x more entertaining and competitive than Pavlik/Lockett.

good fight for chris to get back on track !

Not a bad fight. But why not get him in with James Toney? Same promoter, so it's an obvious match-up. Hopefully that will happen early next year. If Arreola cannot beat an old James Toney, then we will know he's not the goods and never will be.

It's fine for a comeback fight and kudos to Arreola for getting back in there so soon after that type of beating. But this would quite possibly be the most pathetic HBO fight in history.

Toney needs to stay off tv and retire. Out of Nard, Roy and James i think everyone can agree James is the most far gone. He got rocked by that last bum he fought. I like Toney i dont want to see a puncher like Arreola tee off on him in bunches. If he absolutely has to keep fighting let it be against bums and soft punchers. Dude is going to have mushmouth worse than Meldrick in a few years if he keeps going.

Minto will be game. It should be fun for a few rds.

Minto is terrible, Foreman would destroy him right now.

on HBO???

Minto has never been stopped. He won't just fall down.

Any heavyweight fight where the fighters are actually throwing punches is a Godsend these days. I'll watch for sure...

I'm looking forward to this just because I'll finally won't have to ever read Minto's name ever again. The guy is terrible. I'll write Chris a thank you card for getting Minto out of any future boxing discussions.

my thoughts exactly, this is a good fight an all but its Friday Night Fights standard or maybe lower down on a PPV undercard. Chris has been given helping hand from HBO already and a big opportunity that he was more than fortunate to get, now time for him to earn his way back into the limelight.

i dunno about that. there's been some shitty fights on HBO.

pbf-bruseles
some of the klits fights
hopkins-hakaar
pavlik-lockett
malignaggi-cherry

and the list goes on and on


this one will at least be entertaining

Khan vs Steffy Bull is a lot worse but this fight still has no business being on HBO, be like giving Hakaar or Bruseles an easy comeback fight after they lost one of the ones you listed.

No doubt those fights sucked, but they involved fighters that have actually accomplished something. This is a maybe against a nobody.

I have to give you Malignaggi/Cherry though, that was worse and a main event. But you can't possibly say this is anything less than garbage as an HBO fight. Pure shit

i didnt even give that list much thought. i didn't even mention all of berto's fights (his fight w collazo being the exception)

whats left of hbo's budget for this year is so low that matching arreola up much better would be too costly financially for hbo, so if that's the best we can get, then im all for it.

so if i had to choose from having pwill vs martinez as the only fight, or having pwill vs martinez AND arreola vs minto, then the choice is easy. it will be entertaining, it won't be a blowout (since arreola, according the majority of the board, is just above a club fighter), it's a good comeback fight, and it's a double header instead of just having one fight.

Mares Marcianno
Smith Jacobs

I'd always rather have two fights instead of one. But they could make much better than this with just about anything. It will be a blowout and it wont be entertaining. Just Chris smashing on a short, fat, old never was.

Someone like Derrick Rossy would be a gigantic upgrade and that would be a joke. No reason not to be happy for your boy, but defending this fight as part of a WCB telecast is pathetic.

he is the other name being mentioned but I heard HBO wont approve it because they have had Minto on before

Arreola will not grow as a fighter if he keeps being fed crap. This is why I stated James Toney. Toney is skilled to the max, so Arreola could learn a few things in there. See a few things he has yet to see.

Multiple belts suck. Because of the alphabet situation guys like Povetkin, Haye and Chambers are not fighting Arreola or others as they wait for their turn at a quarter of the "title."

Is Arreola going to fight Minto and then go right after Wladipuss? This guy needs real fights with dangerous fighters so that he can mature as a true contender.

I'm not shitting on Chris, it's admirable he is getting back in the ring this quickly. I know it's a touchy topic, but damn that's a shitty fight for HBO.

Given the names being offered, I'd have to believe the consensus would agree that Arreola deserves a tune-up for his first fight back, just not for it to occupy airtime on HBO.

It's easy to defend the choice of opponent- not enough money being offered for him to fight anyone even half decent.

Easy to defend Arreola being on HBO again- highest rated show last time out and he's always on their air.

But damn. This? On HBO?

war the beast. how can you not like this slugfest

It's a terrible fight I'd rather see him rematch Spoon...seriously!

Vargas would be more interesting.

If this fight is competitive, Arreola should re-evaluate his career if he isn't already.

just be grateful that Dimitrenko isnt from the midwest

That sums it up. Good to see Arreola back, but this is not remotely HBO worthy.

LOL, Cris would hammer him, but Dimitrenko would mutilate Minto.

agreed it is a shitty fight for HBO to air but Chris is a Haymon fighter and whatever Al wants........


and Rossy would be a far more interesting fight to me

nah, i was just saying that if Dimitrenko was american you would probably have him shoved down your throat by the media. Chris is a game exciting fighter, so that media attention is pretty reasonable i guess.

Dimitrenko is the next Lennox compared to the abomination that is Tyson Fury. I almost fell off my chair laughing the first time I saw that "prospect".

Comebacks and tune ups have no place on HBO. Espescially, if this is a main event fight. Undercard of a tripleheader maybe.

Should be fun while it lasts. No way this is the worst fight ever on HBO. Having the Klits fight hopeless tuneups as main events are the worst.

We also have to remember that this card had to be thrown together at the last minute and money is definitely an issue. I agree its not HBO'esque but I rather have a double header than not.

The Klitschkos have always been considered top ten heavies and with the exception of last minute replacements fight fellow top ten heavies. Not saying there isn't a disparity gap in the haevyweight division right now, but a top ten versus a top ten isn't a tune up and shouldn't be considered a comeback fight. Furthermore, if it is a championship fight with titles on the line, a little leeway is given.

Arreola is a nice guy and I'm a fan after his loss to Klitschko, but he doesn't belong in the top ten, doesn't have a title and Minto is no where near the top ten and shouldn't have a title.

true, Derek Chisora and David Price will probably make more of themselves but even there we are probably reaching.

Doesn't belong in the top ten, name ten heavyweights better than him right now?

I said quite possibly and the Klitschko's are belt holders. That doesn't excuse poor matchups, but they have significance to them. Neither of them has ever fought a fighter as bad as Minto on HBO. Not even close.

im not entirely sure either way myself but you might be able to argue that these guys are better

povetkin
chambers
wlad
vitali
valuev
haye
jc gomez
tua
boystov
solis

Dude is coming off of a loss against his ONLY top ten opponent and it was a clear and one sided beat down.

Prior to that he didn't beat anyone considered in the top fifteen. He has fans so he is ranked.

um dude

its an undercard fight

Why the hell not. Minto isn't gonna do shit in this division anyway. Mind as well cash him out.

It would be a fun fight, but Minto should barely be on ESPN, much less HBO. This is a big step back from dudes Arreola was beating before the Klit beatdown. Even dudes like Derrick Rossy are at least ESPN level and I would accept as a tuneup featured on an undercard.

i remember for awhile ESPN2 was showing Minto-Maddalone as an "instant classic"

I don't think either fight(s) are HBO worthy but its the end of year, they are trying to salvage a card, money is tight, and its an undercard fight. With the boxing drought fast approaching for the holidays, I'll take what I can get. I'd even settle for a Wlad borefest if it means I can watch some boxing before the end of the year.

Also, I'd have a much bigger problem if there was another fight that could be made but I think Minto is as good as its going to get. Fighting a Toney or even a Tua would probably require for this to be a main event or for Pwill to still be fighting Pavlik in a higher profile fight for HBO to invest more $.

They could scrap it and televise Vitali/Johnson the following week. They could grab two action fighters that would jump at a small payday to fight on HBO. In fact, they would be extremely hard pressed to come up with anything worse.

true that fight is already there, just need to pay for the production costs and can show it delayed as a co-feature will the live fight. the guy who wins should get the follow up appearance too, not the guy who lost.

Yup, that fight is already paid for. So I can only laugh at this budget nonsense. It's a putrid fight for TV.

They just saved a few million when Kelly pulled out anyway. I mean that fight was almost 4million, with Clottey/Quintana under it. Now they are too broke to come up with something better than a Fox Sports undercard fight? Please