Chris Arreola: You have to kill me before I ever quit

Mexican heavyweight Chris Arreola (36-4, 31 KOs) makes his return to the ring July 17th (36-4, 31 KOs) when he takes on Cameroonian heavyweight Frederic Kassi (18-3, 10 KOs). Arreola is coming off a fight of the year candidate fight against Curtis Harper. A victory Saturday is likely to lead to a showdown with WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder.

"I expect to step in the ring in the high 240s." Arreola stated. "That's about where I need to be. Just staying in shape and making sure I don't balloon up like I have. My last fight when I weighed 263 I could easily cut weight to 255, but what for? I'm a big heavyweight. I messed up by overeating and it's my fault. No one else to blame but me. I'm not going to cut any vanity weight. Why would I? I'm a heavyweight.

"I will never quit in a fight. Broken nose, broken ribs, broken whatever. You would have to kill me in the ring before I ever quit.

"I watched Kassi's last fight. He's a good mover and switches a lot. The main thing I'm going to have to do is catch him when he's flinching, because he's flinching out of nowhere.

"I've got to make a statement and I have to give myself a shot for a world title fight. Title shots don't come around every day so when they do you got to take them."