O.C. Register columnist Mark Whicker was out at the Vitali Klitschko-Chris Arreola fight on Saturday night at Staples Center. Here is his report:

LOS ANGELES - The smart money lived up to its IQ, for once.

It wasn't yet time for Chris Arreola to take Vitali Klitschko's heavyweight championship Saturday night.

Not because he had fought just 27 times. Not because he hadn't met truly distinguished resistance in that time. Not because trainer Henry Ramirez and promoter Dan Goossen hadn't guided him as well as they could.

No, the problem wasn't in the corner where the fight ended, after 10 increasingly convincing rounds. The problem was with the 38-year-old Klitschko.

Make him four years older, four years slower, four years more comfortable, and maybe Arreola has a chance to make it close enough for good barbershop talk on Monday morning.

Instead, Arreola's big chance ended up in a bloodied face and a tearful, resentful surrender on his chair after the 10th round. And the one intriguing heavyweight title fight remains the one that never will happen: Vitali against brother Wladimir, who stood in the winning corner Saturday night.

A crowd of 14,556, including Kobe Bryant, Pete Rose and Mike Tyson, entered Staples Center in hopes of seeing heavyweight significance.

Arreola had spread so much damage in his rise to this moment, and Klitschko had been so routinely dismissed as yet another robotic European, that you could smell the possibility in the air.

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LOS ANGELES --- Vitali Klitschko gave Chris Arreola a rude introduction to big-time boxing on Saturday night in front of a near-capacity crowd at Staples Center.

Klitschko, a 6-7, 252-pounder, used his massive height and reach advantages to pile up points and punish Arreola, a 6-3, 251-pounder, until Arreola's long-time friend and trainer Henry Ramirez had seen enough.

Arreola was a bloody mess after taking a terrible pounding in the 10th round and that's when Ramirez informed referee Jon Schorle to stop the contest before the start of the 11th round.

"He was taking too much punishment," Ramirez said. Arreola was irate at Ramirez's decision to stop the fight, but he was hopelessly behind on the judges' scorecards, trailing 99-91, 99-91 and 100-89.

"It was not an easy decision," Ramirez said, "but I had to do it."

Klitschko dominated all the CompuBox punch statistics. Klitschko landed 301 of 802 total punches, while Arreola landed 86 of 331. Klitschko connected on 151 of 283 (53 percent) of his power punches and he connected on 150 of 519 jabs. Arreola landed only 24 of 107 power punches.

"This fight was as hard as I expected," Klitschko said. "I know I was hurting him a lot, but he has a great chin."

Klitschko established his punishing left jab from the opening bell, while Arreola tried without success to find a way inside Klitschko's 80-inch reach.

Klitschko was bringing his heavy right behind his jab in the second. Arreola got Klitschko against the ropes and pounded away with a few body shots. But Klitschko went back to his jab to keep Arreola at bay.

Arreola was never able to deliver an kind of consistent pressure. On the very few times that he got inside, Klitschko tied him up, held and waited for the referee to break them up.

Arreola could not adjust and ended up taking a serious amount of punishment as the large Ukrainian just picked him apart from the outside, mixing in hooks, uppercuts and hard straight rights off his jab.

Arreola lone highlight came in the fourth round when he had some minor success, applying the pressure. Klitschko didn't want any part of any wild exchanges, tied up Arreola and got the fight back to his distance. Arreola was never able to pull the trigger in the remainder of the fight.

Klitschko landing some big shots in the ninth round, catching Arreola with a right uppercut and a left hook. Blood was pouring from Arreola's nose after he absorbed some straight right hands.

Arreola was completely frustrated by the 10th round with his inablity to get any consistent offense going. Klitschko was landing at a high rate with accurate power shots, while Arreola was offering no resistance. Arreola went back to his corner after the 10th round and that's when Ramirez stopped it.

Klitschko, of Los Angeles, improved to 38-2 with 37 KOs, while Arreola, of Riverside, dropped to 27-1 with 24 KOs.

Klitschko's sparring partner Johnathon Banks (22-1, 15 KOs) of Detroit, Mich., came on in the second half of the fight to pull out an eight-round majority decision over Javier Mora (22-5-1, 18 KOs) of Anaheim.

Banks put together some big combinations in the fifth round that had Mora staggered, but he couldn't put him down. Banks never followed up with a forceful attack in the remaining rounds, but he did enough to prevail.

Two of the judges had Banks winning, 79-73, 78-74, while the thurd judge had it even, 76-76.

It's hard to gage just where lightweight prospect John Molina (18-0, 14 KOs) of Covina is at this stage of his development, considering he was fighting Mexican veteran Efrain Hinojosa (30-7-1, 17 KOs), who had one victory in his past six fights heading into the bout. But Molina took care of business in quick and emphatic fashion.

Molina hammered Hinojosa with a right to the body, a right to the head and a left hook to the chops that put Hinojosa on his knees where referee Tony Krebs counted him out at 34 seconds into the first round.

"I went after him," Molina said. "(Trainer) Joe (Goossen) told me to go after him right off the bat.

"I set the tone quick and hit him with a liver shot. I think I broke his rib, to be honest with you.

"Once I saw that look in his eyes, I went after him and he was done. Believe me; I hit him with some hard shots."

Featherweight Salvador Sanchez (14-3-2, 8 KOs) of Tianguistence, Mexico, made quick work of overmatched Trinidad Mendoza (28-25-2, 3 KOs) of Sonora, Mexico, with a third-round knockout.

Sanchez, the nephew of Mexican legend Salvador Sanchez, dropped Mendoza with a left hook to the body in the second round. Another left hook to the liver put Mendoza down for a second time in the third round, but this time he couldn't beat the count. The official time of the stoppage was 1:23 of the third round.

"I felt very comfortable," Sanchez said. "I felt great and my punches flowed. I was very excited to be fighting at Staples Center.

"I stopped him in the third round with a left hook to the liver. It was a good shot.

"I was happy with my performance and happy to give the people a good show. I'm glad the crowd was content."

Featherweight prospect Rico Ramos (13-0, 8 KOs) of L.A. picked apart Kermin Guardia (37-10, 20 KOs) of Antioquia, Colombia, en route to a six-round unanimous decision.

Ramos, 22, had Guardia, 39,  a former WBO mini-flyweight and WBO junior-flyweight champion, reeling in the sixth round, but he couldn't finish him off. Ramos had to settle for a unanimous decision, winning by scores of 60-54, 60-54 and 59-55 for Ramos.

In an absolutely dismal eight-round heavyweight bout to kick off the card, Cedric Boswell (31-1, 24 KOs) of Atlanta, Ga., won a unanimous decision over Cisse Salif (23-16, 21 KOs) of Las Vegas. All three judges had Boswell sweeping every round with scores of 80-72.

Chris "The Nightmare" Arreola has been training at Joe Goossen's Gym in Van Nuys since Aug. 7 preparing for his showdown against WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko on Sept. 26 at Staples Center on HBO.

Trainer Henry Ramirez got Arreola out of Riverside for this camp. Why? "We live in a town of 350,000 and we know half of them. They tell me everything he does."

Ramirez wanted Arreola away from distractions, many of them caused by Arreola himself. Ramirez also brought in strength and conditioning coach Darryl Hudson to get Arreola in prime condition. No one has ever questioned Arreola's talent and skills, but his weight and conditioning have been an issue in the past.

I stopped by Goossen's Gym on Saturday afternoon. It was sparring day. Arreola's conditioning was not an issue. Arreola is never going to be a sculpted adonis, but he appeared to be in great shape working nine fast-paced rounds against Malik Scott, Cisse Salif and Lance Whitaker.

A packed gym watched the hulking heavyweights go at it full blast. Ramirez said it wasn't the best Arreola has looked in camp, but I thought Arreola performed very well.

Hudson, who ran track and played football at San Diego State, has worked with a number of fighters over the years, including Winky Wright. He had heard horror stories about Arreola, but he said Arreola has done everything he has asked him to do.

Ramirez said a lot of people expect a three-round slugfest when Klitschko and Arreola hook up, and whoever lands the big bomb will end it. But Ramirez believes his fighter will become stronger as the fight progresses and take over in the later rounds.

Arreola said he doesn't feel pressure heading into the fight against Klitschko even though he could become the first fighter of Mexican descent to capture a heavyweight world championship.  Arreola said it just motivates him even more.

One thing to remember, Arreola has always performed his best against top-notch competition. I expect to see the best Arreola we have seen when he steps in the ring against Klitschko.