By Rey Colon

McWilliams Arroyo (16-3 and 14 KO's), who has not fought since April 23, 2016, is well aware that he will take part in a very hard fight on February 24 against former super flyweight champion Carlos Cuadras (36-2-1 and 27 KO's) of Mexico.

The HBO televised fight takes place at The Forum in Inglewood, California, in what will be Arroyo's first fight in two years and at a higher weight.

Cuadras, who is now trained by veteran coach Abel Sanchez, lost his belt in September 10, 2016 with a twelve round decision loss to Roman 'Chocolate' González.

Arroyo's last fight in 2016, was also a twelve round decision loss to Gonzalez.

Cuadras is coming off a defeat as well, as he dropped a close decision loss on September 9 to his compatriot Juan Francisco 'El Gallo' Estrada.

Arroyo feels energized and is really looking forward to the fight.

"Everything is great. It'll be my first fight in 115 pounds. That night will be a year and 10 month of inactivity. But let's fight. They got me that fight and you know how I am. I've never run from any fight or opponent. We accept it with open arms and seized the opportunity," Arroyo said.

In the last contest with Gonzalez, there was an odd incident where one of his shoes broke and had to be fixed, which hurt his plan of attack during the bout.

"That happens one time in a hundred and unfortunately it happened to me. I'll never forget that. And we hope it won't happen again," Arroyo said.

He accepted the fact that it won't be easy to get the win over Cuadras, but he points out that he has seen him several times in action and studied him well.

"It's a tough fight. It's hard, but I've had fights with the best before and that's what I want to continue to do, fight with the best," Arroyo said.

Rey Colon covers boxing for thesportpress.com