Bout could be Cris Arreola's coming out party

Cris Arreola's a big underdog now, just like Cassius Clay was to Sonny Liston all those years ago.
No one is yet forecasting the unbeaten Arreola (27-0, 24 knockouts) as the next Muhammad Ali, but in a heavyweight division and sport looking for greater public interest, the 28-year-old from Riverside is trying to become the first heavyweight champion of Mexican ancestry.

"The only guy the general population usually knows in boxing is the heavyweight champion, or a celebrity fighter like Oscar De La Hoya or Sugar Ray Leonard," said HBO boxing analyst Larry Merchant. "I've said for years boxing needs a heavyweight version of Oscar. This is the first guy who's come along to have a shot at being that fighter."

Clearly, an Arreola victory against the taller, more experienced World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko tonight at Staples Center is a longshot -- he's a 6-1 underdog at Las Vegas sports books -- that has struggled to generate interest among the Los Angeles fight-fan population. About 6,000 seats remain on sale, promoters say.

Merchant suggests the massive Latino boxing fan base is confused by this newest representative.
"They haven't bought into him yet; they don't know what to think about him because they're used to bantamweights, featherweights and welterweights at the most," Merchant said. "A heavyweight?
"But if he wins, I guarantee you, they'll be waving the Mexican flags and chasing him through the malls."

Arreola, 28, is additionally charged with proving himself to the level the most demanding in the audience require. In the most recent Staples fight, for instance, Oxnard's Victor Ortiz was booed unmercifully after surrendering in a sixth-round technical knockout to an Argentine fighter. "You quit," ringside fans jeered to Ortiz. "You're not a Mexican!"

Arreola "may not have a great resume, but I trust my eyes," Merchant said. "My eyes tell me this guy knows how to fight. He's rough and tough. And who cares if he's been a little heavy over the years? Fernando Valenzuela didn't look like an athlete, either, but millions loved him."

"Trust me," Arreola's promoter Dan Goossen said, "with a victory, the interest in Cris goes through the roof. He wins this, he'll be the biggest story in boxing. Klitschko knew, that's why he took this fight -- not only because we were the mandatory [challenger] but because the attention on Cris is a freight train coming."

Arreola's relentless, heavy-punching style makes for an interesting contrast to the methodical Klitschko. Ukraine's "Dr. Iron Fist" (37-2, 36 KOs) is known for a studious attack that will aim to penetrate any sloppy defensive mistake Arreola might make, saying, "This fight's not going the distance."

On the stage where he weighed in at 251 pounds Thursday -- one pound less than Klitschko -- Arreola also entertained with street-hardened charisma as he poked fun at his own past dietary problems, his driving record and a gloves dispute with Klitschko.

When told Klitschko was insisting that Arreola's gloves were to be weighed before the bout to eliminate any unfair tinkering, Arreola scoffed, "They can do whatever they want. We'll both wear gloves in there. A glove's a glove."

He toyed with the champ by first hiding a large weight vest under his T-shirt and "weighing in" at 272 pounds before laughing and stepping off the scale, stripping off his T-shirt and revealing the weight vest.

"The thing about it is everyone keeps [complaining] about the weight, so I decided I'm gonna have some fun with it," Arreola said off the weigh-in stage. "I wanted to make [Klitschko] believe I'm fat, and then show him, 'You know what? I'm not! I'm in shape!'

"I've worked my butt off for this fight. I've gotten here through hard work, the way you're supposed to do it."

Boxing notes
Last week's welterweight bout between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Juan Manuel Marquez -- won by the larger Mayweather in a one-sided unanimous decision -- generated 1 million pay-per-view buys, HBO announced. That makes it the highest performing boxing pay-per-view event of the year, with $52 million in pay-per-view revenue, and will likely embolden Mayweather's bid to get more than a 50-50 split when his anticipated 2010 showdown with Manny Pacquiao is negotiated. HBO pay-per-view's Mark Taffet said, "Floyd Mayweather has clearly reinforced his standing as a top attraction, and fans are excited about his return to the sport." Mayweather added, "I am truly humbled by the numbers, and I appreciate all of the sports fans who either came to the fight or bought it on pay-per-view. It felt great to be back in the ring and next time I will be even better."

Though Shalt not Steal

The Bogolan Merchants Association in Fort Greene Brooklyn has been very successful in improving its piece of Fulton Street. So successful, in fact, that some of its businesses have left the area entirely.

"It became too much of a good thing," says Jonathan Adewumi, former chairman of Bogolan, "I did not foresee it." Adewumi owns Nigerian Fabrics and Fashions, a high end African clothing store. He resigned from his post and moved to a far less fashionable Nostrand in May, "The rent went up 200 percent overnight."

Black and white flags hang smartly from streetlamps in this leafy section of the city. "Welcome to Bogolan Brooklyn," the flags read, " the soul of the Brooklyn renaissance." A few African clothing stores occupy the ground floors of large brownstones. A Chinese Laundromat sits between them.

"The area has been going through an organic rebirth," says Adewumi who helped spearhead Bogolan's initiatives, "but it is a microcosm of what happens all over America. Small business work to build up an area and then developers move in."

"We have lost a couple of businesses because of the high rent," Says Linda Howard as she sits on a custom made Ghanaian chair, "but I don't think it has had an impact on the association." Howard is a co-owner of Ashanti Origins a high end importer of West African furniture and art. Subtle animal prints and wooden furniture sit elegantly in the space.

Bogolan was started in 1995 to promote African culture and business in Fort Greene. The group organized performances and art exhibits to show off the renaissance. But over the past year rent has increased dramatically as professionals move in from Manhattan. The drop in crime and the increase of cultural options have also had an impact.

"Bogolan started as a cultural organization," says Howard, who also serves as the groups treasurer, "but it has developed into a business group." The name refers to a type of traditional cloth made in Mali.

"The names means more than cloth, it is also a ethnic group in Mali," says Howard, "it was a cultural decision."
"They should have called it African Village, not Bogolan," says Ganue Demu, former owner of Demu Cafe, "The fashion people pushed for it." He is not a member.

"Demu Cafe is still here," says Demu at his desk in a prefabricated building on Fulton street with papers strewn around him. He speaks metaphorically. Demu owned Demu Cafe a Nigerian restaurant on Fulton. Last year he closed because of rising rents. Now an upscale restaurant serving American fare occupies the space.

"Landlords don't hate the people," he says in a black t-shirt and African skull cap, "they have to go along with the market." At the end of the 90s Demu Cafe was lauded in New York newspapers as an epicenter of African Arts and culture. A place for poetry and cassava. Now there is only one African restaurant in the area

"Rent has been rising," says Salif Cisse, owner and operator of Keur 'n Deye Senegalese restaurant, "but if you do good business rentals won't matter." People have not been arriving quickly enough for some. "The landlords are increasing rents because of projected interest in the area," admits Howard, her furniture store devoid of customers, "but right now we need the foot traffic."

Business owners in the area claim that the projected interest was driven by nearby Brooklyn Academy of Music. The institution joined up with organizations like Bogolan and announced a move to transform Fort Greene into a cultural district. Consequently, rents skyrocketed. And black owned businesses moved out.

"I am buying the building," says Raven, the 'Harlem Cake Man, " so it doesn't affect me." His small bakery is crowded with customers on Sunday evening, praises waft down from the prayer service upstairs. Operators who own their property, though rare in Fort Greene, are happy with the influx of new residents. Demu now runs a general-purpose office center. But the squat building with rusted metal security gates rarely looks open. He intends to reopen Demu Cafe in the small plot because he owns it.

On the whole, the heart of Bogolan has a distinctly non-African feel. On one block a piano bar, express grocery store and a video store vie for customers. "I have not heard of Bogolan," says Kay Lee, manager of One Green Sushi and Sashimi Restaurant, a Bogolan flag hanging outside her building, "No-one approached me about it." 

Demu thinks all should be part of an African Village. He admits that many of the businesses have nothing to do with Africa. They love the African community, Africa is a label for them.