Chris Arreola at Golf Tournament of Champions

Heavyweight Back in the Ring Soon!

Heavyweight Chris “The Nightmare” Arreola is used to taking swings in the boxing ring. This past weekend, the Riverside hitter traded shots on the greens in the 2012 Golf Tournament of Champions at the Desert Princess Country Club in Cathedral City, near Palm Springs. Hosted by Southern California fight promoter Ken Thompson, of Thompson Boxing Promotions, Arreola was a special guest at the celebrity golf tourney along with fellow fighters Efrain Esquivias, Mauricio Herrera, Alberto Herrera, and Rodolfo “El Gato” Gonzalez, WBC Supervisors Rudy Tellez and Dr. Joe Noriega, boxing trainers Henry Ramirez and Eddie Gonzalez, and many more.

Check out this exclusive first look at the yearly event with over 200 participants hitting the links during this fun day in the desert.

Joining the prizefighter at this year’s affair were his coach Henry Ramirez and Chris’ championship family, wife Erin and their daughter Danae.

While aiming for a “Hole in One” on the golf course, the heavyweight champ (35-2, 30 KOs) is still very active in the fight game. His last fight was in February when he crushed Eric Molina in the opening round of their WBC USNBC title fight.

Next up for the big guy?

Chris told me he’s looking to fight in July, near his hometown with an opponent named soon. And as talk continues about Team Arreola taking on the second Klitschko brother in Wladimir, the camp says that match versus Wladimir Klitschko could take place in November.

As everyone knows by now, the towering puncher gets his fair share of criticism for his gym habits and discipline while training, but at Friday’s golf event Arreola says he’s weighing in at around the 250 mark. Training out of Indian Willie’s private boxing gym in Riverside, he shouldn’t be too far away from his fighting weight this time around.

And he was holding his own on the fairway too. After the shotgun start with his team, the boxer matched chip shots with the other players in this prestigious tournament sponsored by Thompson Building Materials and Omega Products International.

While he didn’t reveal his golf handicap, the towering slugger did tell me he owns his own set of clubs and really enjoys playing the sport.

In another victory, Arreola nabbed this year’s braggin’ rights as the “1st Place Award” winner in this 9th Annual Tournament of Champs. At the awards dinner, Chris stole the show while assisting in the prize raffle with his 10-year-old daughter, Danae. Ring announcer Sonny Franco and Thompson Boxing’s Jeanette Gonzales conducted the raffle drawing for a long row of coveted prizes; Danae picked the lucky numbers while her dad did his best Vanna White impersonation. Holding up each prize with his own unique style, Arreola kept the audience in stitches.

As each prize winner came up to collect their bounty, the heavily-inked boxing star posed in mock face-offs with the delighted fans. He also squared off against second-place finisher and NABF Super Bantam titlist Efrain Esquivias as the two guys played up their close battle on the golf course.

But the game faces were all for show at this desert gathering with the boxing champs as Esquivias and Arreola posed with the golfing crowd. Chris has a longstanding association with promoter Ken Thompson; the heavy hitter is often seen ringside at the monthly Thompson shows. Back in 2003 and 2004, Arreola fought five times on Thompson’s cards at the outdoor Omega location as well as the Doubletree Hotel in Ontario. “Chris fought on some of our shows early in his career,” the Southland promoter and former President of the World Boxing Hall of Fame mentioned. “He’s a great guy and we’re honored to have Chris, Henry and the Arreola family here.”

While the multiple world champ put down the gloves to pick up the clubs on this particular day, expect the pro boxer to be back in the ring this summer.

Photos by Michele Chong