By Aragon Garcia: In one of the most impressive performances on last Saturday’s card at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, McWilliams Arroyo (21-4, 16 KOs) defeated Abraham ‘Choko’ Rodriguez (27-3, 13 KOs) by a 5th round technical knockout to win the interim WBC flyweight title.
Showing amazing technical boxing skills that most fighters could only wish to have, Arroyo slowly broke down his smaller opponent Rodriguez, who came up from the 108-pound division as a last-minute replacement opponent.
The 2008 Puerto Rican Olympian Arroyo stalked Rodriguez around the ring, landing blistering combinations and power shots to the head and body.
What more impressive about McWilliams’ performance compared to Canelo Alvarez, who defeated Avni Yildirim in the headliner on the card, was the combinations that the Puerto Rican was throwing.
McWilliams made his fight exciting to watch with the way he threw punches in bunches rather than one at a time like we saw with Canelo.
The skills that McWilliams showed in comparison to the other fighters on the card was that of a ighter on a much higher level. No one on that card showed the type of ability that McWilliams displayed, and that includes Canelo.
McWilliams was supposed to fight Rey Martinez
Until last Thursday, McWilliams Arroyo was supposed to be challenging WBC flyweight champion Julio Cesar ‘Rey’ Martinez (17-1, 13 KOs) for his title, but the Mexican talent suffered a fractured right hand, which led to him backing out of the card abruptly.
For McWilliams, this was the second time that a title shot for him against Julio Cesar Martinez had done down the drain, and he was naturally upset about it. McWilliams was supposed to face Martinez last August, but the Mexican star couldn’t take the fight at the time.
Six months later, they were supposed to fight last Saturday, but the hand injury caused Martinez to pull out of the fight, leaving McWilliams withut a chance to fight him.
Thankfully, the WBC did the right thing by sanctioning the fight between McWilliams and substitute opponent Abraham Rodriguez for the interim WBC 112-lb title last Saturday.
‘Choko’ Rodriguez showed courage in moving up in weight from the 108-lb division, where he’s one of the ranked contenders, to take on McWilliams for the interim WBC 112-lb title.
The difference in McWilliam’s technical ability was too much for the brave Mexican to handle. It wasn’t the size, as some thought, that was reason for McWilliams’ domination. It was the superior skills of McWilliams that turned the fight into a rout almost immediately.
By the second round, Rodriguez looked like he was in distress as Arroyo chased him around the ring, hitting him with left hooks to the head and rapid combinations.
In the third round, McWilliams landed a lot of powerful headshots that wore Rodriguez down. He was taking too much punishment from Arroyo, and it was clear that fight wasn’t going to go too much longer with the shots Rodriguez was taking.
At the end of the round, the left side of Rodriguez’s face looked swollen, showing the damage that Arroyo was inflicting upon him.
Rodriguez couldn’t hold Arroyo off
In round four, McWilliams caught ‘Choko’ Rodriguez against the ropes and landed several powerful shots that sent him down. Rodriguez continued fighting, but he was little more than a moving target for Arroyo’s heavy shots.
The only weapon Rodriguez had to try and hold McWilliams off was his powerful left hook, but he couldn’t stand his ground long enough to throw the shot with any regularity because of the punishment he was forced to endure when he would stop moving.
McWilliams was hitting Rodriguez with a hail of shots whenever he caught up with him, and it was too much of a heavy price for the brave Mexican to take for him to attempt to trade with him.
In the fifth, McWilliams walked through a hard left from Rodriguez, and battered him with punches to the body and head.
It was at this pointed that the fight was too one-sided for it to be allowed to continue. The contest was then wisely halted, giving McWilliams the victory. The time of the stoppage was at 1:41 of round five.
McWilliams glad WBC gave him the chance
“Camp was very hard. Unfortunately, I thought I was going to fight [WBC flyweight champion Julio Cesar Martinez], They got a replacement there [Abraham Rodriguez], but I got him.
I eventually knew I was going to get him,” said McWilliams to Fighthub. “I demonstrated that I was going to do my work, and they got him here. And I really appreciate the WBC for letting me respond and fighting for the world title either way.
“I’m very thankful to the WBC, and you got a great champion here. That was kind of the thing. I did work for Julio Martinez, but they got another guy [Abraham Rodriguez] here, and he fought really differently.
“I got more to demonstrate. And I only showed a little of what I have. And I went in there for only five rounds. I was trying to show a little bit more because it was 14 months without fighting, but that’s how it is.
“His trainer stopped the fight, and I’m here. Eddie Hearn passed nearby and said ‘I want you in the next.’ I’m here to fight whoever, but I’ve got my promoters as well.
“Let’s see what they have planned for me. I’m here to fight whoever. If it’s here at 112 or 115, I’m parked. I’ve already won the [WBC] Silver at 115. I’m here to fight whatever they want.
“Thank God I’m here. This was my dream,” said Arroyo to ESNEWS. “I was a world champion in the amateurs, and I really wanted to be a champion professionally.
“I did it. It was a very, very happy moment for me. It got postponed the day before the weigh-in. I know that things happen.
When will Julio Cesar Martinez face McWilliams?
“Maybe it’s destiny that we haven’t gotten in the ring together. But thank God the WBC took action, and they let me fight for the world title, and I’m part of their team now.
“I don’t know if you know, it’s been postponed since August 2020,” said McWilliams about his mandated title fight against WBC flyweight champion Julio Cesar Martinez. “I don’t know if you knew that. Do some research on that This was the second time,” said Arroyo.
Let’s hope that Julio Cesar ‘Rey’ Martinez can finally make it to the ring to face McWilliams n the next six months because it’s taken too long for this fight to happen. Some boxing fans think ‘Rey’ Martinez is afraid of McWilliams.
I don’t know, but it does look strange how he’s been unable to make it into the ring to face the talented Puerto Rican fighter.