PR Best Boxing Promotions

On Saturday, McWilliams Arroyo steps into the ring with the man widely considered the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, RING and WBC flyweight champion Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez.

The Puerto Rican is looking forward to locking horns with Gonzalez on HBO when they meet as chief support to Gennady Golovkin-Dominic Wade at the Forum in Inglewood, California. The broadcast begins at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.

“For me it’s a great opportunity, fighting the best out there and I am grateful and plan to take advantage of it,” Arroyo told RingTV.com through translator Aleudi Rosario of PR Best Boxing. “He has been a great champion and has proven it but how good he is, I’ll see on April 23.”

Arroyo (16-2, 14 knockouts) was a highly decorated amateur, his career culminating with winning gold at the 2009 World Championships. He turned pro in early ’10 and won his first three fights before surprisingly losing a decision in his fourth outing. Since then he has re-grouped and worked himself into the title picture at 112 pounds, where he is rated No. 8 by THE RING. He fought awkward IBF titlist Amnat Ruenroeng in Thailand in Sept. ’14, but despite dropping the champion in the sixth round he lost a split decision.

The 30-year-old boxer-puncher has fought just once since, a third-round stoppage over Victor Ruiz last April. Obviously, coming into a fight of this magnitude on the back of a year of inactivity isn’t ideal. However, he says he’s been a victim of circumstances and has stayed in shape.

“I haven’t fought not because of me, I trained all year and more than three fights got canceled at the last minute, days before the weigh-in,” he explained. “So I have been training and always I stay in the gym so that will not affect me.”

According to online betting group Bet365.com Arroyo is a 12-1 underdog, but he remains unfazed.

“All my life I’ve been willing to fight the best,” he said. “I train very hard and I know I have talent and I’m going for the win. I’m not just taking the fight just to take it. At the end of the day the best man will win.”

His twin, McJoe, is the reigning IBF junior bantamweight champion — the two train together but don’t spar – and McWilliams is keen to join him as champion.

“Absolutely, McJoe will be there to cheer me on,” he said. “We have a dream of becoming champs together. McJoe done his part, now I’m trying to do mine. We motivate each other.”

PR Best Boxing’s vice president Peter Rivera believes his fighter can cause an upset.

“What really made me confident is McWilliams’ experience,” Rivera explained. “He fought all around the world as an amateur, he’s physically and mentally mature at this point of his career, the defeat on his first title opportunity helped him to know what you need to do to become a world champion, plus he has power and great boxing skills.”

Questions and/or comments can be sent to Anson at [email protected] and you can follow him at www.twitter.com/AnsonWainwright

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