As they would say in his native Puerto Rico, McWilliams Rierol “passed La Salsa and Guayacán” so that the third was the loser. But eventually the Fajardeño boxer strapped on a world title track Saturday night at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium.
Arroyo defeated by knockout at 01:41 of the fifth assault on the Mexican Abraham Rodriguez in a fight in which the temporary fly title of the World Boxing Council was at stake, after the champion in property, also Aztec Julio César Martínez suffered an injury that left him out of action 24 hours before Friday’s heavyweight.
The fight of Arroyo and Martinez was the co-star of the evening to be starred by the defense of the double super-middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez against the Turkish Avni Yildrim.
For the Boricua, who had tried unsuccessfully on two previous occasions to become world champion, it was his first world title.
The first lost to Thai Amnat Ruenroeng, in a very controversial clash, and lost in 2016 to Román “Chocolatito” Martínez by unanimous decision, in a fight where the Puerto Rican had a great demonstration.
The former Olympian, who improved his professional mark to 21-4 and 16 KOs, had a great show in combat despite not knowing anything about Rodriguez. He opened the lawsuit with a studio assault and then between the third and fourth pressed his march to finally end the hostilities in the fifth forcing the intervention of the referral.
Rodriguez, who accepted the starting offer and arrived in Miami less than 24 hours later, came from four straight wins. The last of these in March 2020. He saw his mark drop to 27-3 and 13 KO’s.