This marks the fifth time Julio Cesar Martinez and McWilliams Arroyo have been booked to fight
For the fifth time in under 2.5 years, WBC flyweight champion Julio Cesar Martinez is scheduled to defend his title against McWilliams Arroyo, this time as part of the November 3rd Juan Francisco Estrada vs Chocolatito Gonzalez 3 card at Glendale, AZ’s Desert Diamond Arena.
The WBC has been trying to stage a proper fight between these two since 2020 and it just hasn’t worked out, in large part because of Martinez (18-1, 14 KO). “Rey” has pulled out of matchups three times already, twice during fight week. The one time they did managed to share the ring, an increasingly electric slugfest sputtered out after two rounds due to a clash of heads.
After the latest debacle, Martinez entered into negotiations for a unification bout with Sunny Edwards, which ultimately fell through. We obviously weren’t privy to the process, so there’s no telling where the blame lies, but Martinez missing weight against Chocolatito and those aforementioned last-minute withdrawals make it hard to give him the benefit of the doubt.
In any event, Arroyo (21-4, 16 KO) gets another shot and hopefully a nice payday while Martinez gets an opportunity to try and put the pieces of his career back together. Now to see if Martinez can keep it together for two months.
