Harry Arroyo: A Proud Champion and Native of Youngstown Ohio
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Harry Arroyo was born on October 25, 1957 and like his contemporary and rival, Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini, hailed from the blue collar city of Youngstown, Ohio. He never came close to achieving Ray’s celebrity and status. However, at the peak of his powers, KO Magazine ranked him as the #1 Lightweight in the world at a time when Mancini, Livingstone Bramble, Edwin Rosario, Howard Davis, JR., Jose Luis Ramirez and Hector Camacho were all competing in the division. He was also ranked among the top 10 pound for pound fighters in the world at that time.
Arroyo was freakishly tall for a Lightweight at 5’10’’ and possessed strong power and excellent boxing skills. He had an outstanding amateur career compiling a record of 110-15. Harry turned professional in September 1980 with a fourth round stoppage victory over Dale Gordon. Over the first two years of his career, Arroyo toiled in relative obscurity while Mancini was establishing himself as a boxing star. By October 1982, Harry’s body of work added up to an impressive undefeated record of 16-0, 13 KO’s.
In his first major test Harry faced off against fellow undefeated prospect and future JR Welterweight contender Joe Manley. Arroyo prevailed by a 10 round split decision. Harry won five fights in 1983, improving his record to 22-0, 17 KO’s. However, he was still largely unknown by the boxing public at large. Next, he was paired against “Rockin” Robin Blake. Blake was a regular on network television and had established a significant following with exciting wins over Ruben Munoz, Tony Baltazar and Melvin Paul. Although he coming off a tough loss to Tyrone Crawley, Blake was still well known and a hot property in the boxing world.
Arroyo defeated Blake by a 10 round decision in an exciting affair and was now officially on the map of the boxing world. This set up a world title opportunity against IBF Lightweight champion Charlie “Choo Choo” Brown. Arroyo won in a war of attrition by a 14th round stoppage capturing the championship. Speculation among boxing fans began about a possible showdown between Harry and WBA champion Mancini. However, fate intervened when Livingstone Bramble dethroned “Boom Boom” by an upset 14th round stoppage in June 1984. Now there was only one Lightweight champion from Youngstown, Ohio. In September 1984, Arroyo defended for the first time with an 8th round stoppage victory over undefeated Charlie “White Lightning” Brown. Harry’s stock in the boxing world was soaring.
In January 1985, Arroyo defended for the second time against rising contender. Terrence Alli. Boxing fans were surprised when Harry hit the deck in the second round. However, he recovered to stop Alli in round 7. Arroyo’s record now stood at 26-0, 20 KO’s. Three months later, Harry faced once beaten contender Jimmy Paul. Paul was a Detroit native and a Kronk Gym disciple. Arroyo had no answers for Paul’s hard, accurate punching, hitting the deck three times in the fight on the way to a convincing decision loss. Harry had lost the title and suffered his first professional defeat.
Unfortunately, this was just the beginning of Arroyo’s downward spiral. In his next fight, Harry suffered a 7th round stoppage victory to nondescript Sammy Fuentes. Arroyo rebounded with a three fight winning streak before squaring off against young contender Vinny Pazienza in May 1986. Harry suffered another disappointing loss as the Pazienza whipped him handily, pitching a near shutout over the course of ten rounds. Things would only get worse for Arroyo. He went on another three fight winning streak before suffering his most embarrassing loss to date. Journeyman Roger Brown, who entered the fight with a record of 8-7, outpointed Harry over 10 rounds, handing him the fourth loss of his career.
In February 1988, Arroyo won the WBC Continental Americas JR Welterweight Title by stopping undefeated Rick Souce in the 8th round. However, any thoughts of a resurgence for Harry were quickly dashed when he was destroyed by former/future champion Loreto Garza in just one round. Arroyo lost four of his next six fights, including a 12 round decision loss to Tommy Small for the WBF JR Middleweight championship in June 1991. Harry won two of his next three fights before entering the ring for the final time against undefeated Vinny Letizia in Feb 1993. Letizia prevailed by a 10 round unanimous decision and this persuaded Harry to hang up the gloves for good.
Arroyo’s final ring record was 40-11, 30 KO’s. Although, he never achieved the heights suggested by his early promise, Harry was an impressive and exciting fighter to watch in his prime. Even with the proliferation of boxing sanctioning bodies, the title of world champion is still a special and rare accomplishment. Harry will forever go down in history and one of the relative few that won one and that’s a damn good legacy by anyone’s standards.