Dr Iron Fist hammers Arreola
With blood streaming out of Arreola's nose from the eighth round, Ramirez had seen enough when he came back to the corner at the end of the 10th.
"He was taking too much punishment. When I told him that I was going to stop he was irate," Ramirez said. "It was not an easy decision. But we had discussed it and I had to do it."
Klitschko said he was surprised that Arreola did not come out for the start of the 11th.
"This was a hard fight like I expected," Klitschko said. "I know I was hurting him a lot, but he has a great, great chin. Chris Arreola put on a great performance."
With Mike Tyson looking on from ringside, Arreola was trying to bring at least a portion of the heavyweight title back to the U.S. and add a jolt of excitement to the division. Arreola was also trying to become the first boxer of Mexican heritage to become a heavyweight champion.
Klitschko, 38, was fighting at the Staples Center for the first time since his epic battle against Lennox Lewis in 2003. Klitschko lost the fight on a sixth-round TKO due to cuts, so he could understand Arreola's disappointment at the way things unfolded Saturday night.
Arreola kept pursuing Klitschko in the first round, but found it difficult to land anything meaningful. The jab of the 6-7 Klitschko was too long and too hard to penetrate. In the second round, Arreola tried the bum-rush approach. But even that was ineffective. When he rushed toward Klitschko he found a jab waiting to smack him in the face. Through the first two rounds, Klitschko had outlanded Arreola 77 punches to 17, according to CompuBox punch statistics.
Arreola finally got to Klitschko in the sixth round; landing a sharp one-two that snapped his head back. But it was a momentary victory in what was becoming a war of attrition. Klitschko's accumulation of punches had begun to take a toll on Arreola - a toll that his corner was not willing to watch for another two rounds.