After beating Terrence Alli, Gil Clancy said of Arroyo: "He's terrific. I don't know anybody who can beat this guy." Yet in his very next fight, he lost to Jimmy Paul. Thereafter, Arroyo had a spotty record until he retired in the early 90's. I'm not that familiar with Arroyo aside from having seen one or two fights. So what happened? Was Gil just a little over-excited after the thrilling Alli fight, or did Arroyo fall off the wagon? Arroyo certainly looked capable against Alli.
He was just over-excited. Arroyo would have lost badly to Camacho at that time, and did lose badly in the brave effort against Paul. He didn't have the best set of whiskers, as proven by being floored against Alli early on; Alli couldn't dent a grape. He was a good counterpuncher but had a tendency to start a little slow and take some firepower before coming on and doing his thing. He had pretty good power, good use of height and reach, and paced himself very well. Had sort of a Monzon-like carriage to him, though not as effective obviously. Arroyo was a guy who made the most of what he was going to give; he was always going to be tough on brawler-types and made a good showing against a prime Robin Blake, that was a real nice win. The good counterpunchers or a defensive stylist were going to give him fits though. He was never really a long-term thing. Which sucks, because he was one of my favorites back then. His attention was a little divided too, as he was a cop the whole time he was a fighter.
Good, honest prizefigther. I always found his style pleasing to watch, win or lose. He wasn't a super-special talent but he brought his lunch-bucket and hard hat to work every day and was very competitive with the guys of his day.
Thanks guys, I've always wondered about Arroyo. So he had a day job too? That's quite unique among the upper tier fighters. Very interesting stuff.
