Arreola Makes Short Work of Mitchell in Title Bout

"I want to thank myself for working hard," Arreola, who has a reputation of not training hard, told Showtime after his victory over the WBC's second-ranked heavyweight contender.

Arreola, the WBC's No. 3 heavyweight contender, said the WBC international championship "means nothing to me."

"I want the world title," said Arreola, who was knocked out by Vitali Klitschko in the 10th round of their 2009 fight for the WBC heavyweight championship.

Arreola said he would like a rematch with Bermane Stiverne, the WBC's top-ranked contender. Stiverne defeated Arreola on a 12- round unanimous decision April 27.

The 32-year-old Arreola (35-3, 31 knockouts) said before the fight he would consider retiring if he lost to Mitchell (26-2-1, 19 KOs) "because there's no way this guy could beat me, not the way I've trained."

In the co-main event, Efrain Esquivias of Gardena knocked out Rafael Marquez in the ninth round of their scheduled 10-round junior featherweight fight, improving to 17-2-1 with 10 knockouts.

The 38-year-old Marquez, a former International Boxing Federation bantamweight and WBC super bantamweight champion, dropped to 41-9, with his third loss in his past four fights.