Chris Arreola is 38 years old, and isn’t deluding himself. He knows that his career is nearing that finish line, and he isn’t sure when that will close in on him quick.

Could be it happens on Saturday, August 3, at Barclays in Brooklyn?

The fighter, who holds a 38-5-1 (33 knockouts) record, and meets the durable Pole Adam Kownacki in NY, has pondered it, and come to a realization: if I don’t win Saturday, that’s it, I’m hanging up the gloves.

The stakes, are what, then?

“Win or retire, those are my stakes, win or retire,” Arreola told me. “Lose, I retire, I win, ‘The Nightmare’  keeps going, man. Those are my stakes, man!”

He’s won two straight, but against foes of a lesser grade than the Pole. The battler says he wants to make sure he wrings out every bit of what he has, as a pro. “I’m OK, I’m back in boxing because I want to be a champion, I’m not a paycheck fighter,” he said. He’s not in it to just make those paychecks, even if he is the B side, that scalp to be added to resumes, he swore.

The boxer continued. He said he’s happy with his resume, and he feels lucky to have done all he has to this point.

Arreola said that he’s enjoyed a new relationship, with trainer Joe Goossen. The tutor told me he’s been more than pleased at Arreola’s commitment. The vet sage won’t announce, as part of the Fox crew, since they are “only” showing three bouts. “This has got the earmarks of being a real knockdown drag out old school fight,” the trainer stated.

“It could be fight of the year in terms of its brutalness…How long it lasts, I have no idea. I do believe someone is going to get knocked out!”

He thinks this is a 50-50 fight, though he admits that the oddsmakers will be seeing the Pole as the favorite. Him and Chris have been drilling hard and long on head movement and staying away from getting tagged, he relayed. “He’s been very diligent in the ring and he’s been sparring a lot,” he told me, and one tid-bit, he had Chris spar without the face bar, and that has forced him to move his head more.

Henry Ramirez was Arreola’s over-seer and now he enjoys the time with Goossen. Goossen makes Arreola do it..and do it again. “It’s tedious, he’s a field general, he makes sure everything’s done right,” Arreola said.

The Pole, Arreola says, throws volume and he wants to push the favorite back, and “work off of counters.”

You can see how it plays out in person or live on free Fox. Arreola’s prediction? “A win, man…Not gonna predict stoppage or no decision, but the thing is, I’m comin’ out with my hand raised, and ‘The Nightmare’ will continue!”

My three cents: Arreola is being invited to be the B side. We shall see if he knows that..or Kownacki’s skill make that so. Arreola is 38, and yes, I’m think youth gets served on Fox. Here’s the thing, this will be a trade-fest. There will be volume, there will not be an excessive focus on defense…this will be a fan friendly fight to screen. Talk to me, friends, in the comment section.

Who is foreseeing Arreola in the upset win, and the continuation of ‘The Nightmare’ in the ring?