Cris Arreola Returns to Ring on Dec. 5

Heavyweight contender Cris Arreola will fight in the co-feature against an opponent to be determined on the Dec. 5 undercard of Paul Williams' junior middleweight matchup in Atlantic City, his promoter, Dan Goossen, confirmed on Monday.

Arreola (27-1, 24 knockouts) was the loser by 10th-round knockout to WBA champion Vitali Klitschko (38-2, 37 KOs) when his trainer, Henry Ramirez, stopped the bout due to the punishment his fighter had taken during their Sept. 26 matchup.

"Quite frankly, Cris wants to get back sooner rather than later," said Goossen, who also promotes Williams (37-1, 27 KOs).

"I'd much rather have a fighter like Arreola that has sustained his first loss and says, 'Send me right back in, I've got to correct this,' " said Goossen, "rather than one that wants to sit back and cry about the loss. He wants to get back out there, which is much better than wanting to sit back and dwell on it."

The Ring's Michael Rosenthal reported that 40-year-old former world champion Oleg Maskaev (36-6, 27 KOs), 36-year-old former contender David Tua (50-3-1, 43) and 38-year-old Ray Austin (27-4-4, 17) are all considerations for Arreola.

Austin is slated to face DaVarryl Williamson (26-5, 22 KOs) this Saturday, and Maskaev is scheduled to meet Nagy Aguilera (14-0, nine) on Dec. 11.

A two-time welterweight and one-time junior middleweight champion, Williams was forced to find another rival when his original opponent, WBO and WBC middleweight titlist Kelly Pavlik (35-1, 31 KOs), canceled their bout due to a staph infection on the knuckle of his left forefinger that has plagued him for months.

Williams' manager, George Peterson, told FanHouse that Williams will likely choose to face Sergio Martinez (44-1, 24 KOs) over WBO champion Sergiy Dzinziruk (36-0, 22 KOs) in the main event.

"Certainly Martinez is one of the guys on the list," said Goossen. "The other is Dzinziruk."

Goossen said that he is also considering a path for super middleweight Edison Miranda, who dominated Thursday night's 168-pound matchup with a first-round knockout over Francisco Sierra.

Miranda's stoppage, at 2:16 of the round, was his 29th knockout, raising his mark to 33-4 as he rebounded from May's unanimous decision loss to former Olympic gold medalist Andre Ward.

"We're going to be putting Edison somewhere," said Goossen, whose brother, Joe, was training Miranda for the first time against Sierra.

"We'll be getting together [Monday] to discuss Miranda," said Goossen, "along with some of the other fighters on the different shows that we've got coming up."