In the opening bout of the CBS broadcast from El Paso, Texas, Chris “The Nightmare” Arreola (37-4 31KOs) fought to a majority draw with Frederic Kassi (18-3 10KOs) in a fairly competitive fight in the heavyweight division. Kassi stayed on the outside for the early duration of the fight as Arreola chased him around the ring trying to cut off the ring to no avail. It appeared the awkward style of not trying to engage and constantly keeping Arreola out of rhythm had Arreola in the third round moving backward after Arreola walked into a short uppercut that came from a bizarre angle.

Arreola tried to change things in the middle rounds as he began to walk forward seemingly hurting Kassi in the middle portion of the round as Kassi was able to play it off. The middle portion of the fight saw both fighters taking turns coming forward as Arreola struggled to land a punch flush as it appeared he was not just fighting Kassi, but also exhaustion. One has to think Arreola might have assumed one big punch could change the fight after watching Amir Mansour knockout Kassi last year, but that punch never landed.

As the fight concluded the scores were all over the place as the majority of people scoring the fight had Kassi winning the bout just slightly yet the judges didn’t agree as they scored the bout 95-95, 95-95 and 96-94 in favor of Arreola. The bout was a major disappointment for Arreola who would of gotten a Deontay Wilder WBC heavyweight title shot with a victory that seems all, but out of the picture after this performance.