CORPUS CHRISTI – Lyford native Eric Molina has always dreamed of showing the world that the Rio Grande Valley has a true boxing Heavyweight that can contend with the best in the business and perhaps one day even bring a world title to the place he likes to call home.

Molina, the current WBC USNBC Heavyweight champion and Don King Promotions prospect, has reached a deal with King to face Chris Arreola (34-2, 29 KO’s), the WBC number one ranked Heavyweight in a title eliminator February 18^th at the American Bank Center as a part of the Paul Williams and Nobuhiro Ishida card live on Showtime Championship Boxing.

The winner of this fight will receive a guaranteed title shot against Wladimir Klitschko down the road.

“Chris Arreola was looking for an opponent in Corpus Christi and I contacted Don King and told him I wanted to fight him,” said Molina. “So Don contacted Arreola’s people and they made an offer. Don called me and told me what they had proposed in the deal and I didn’t think twice about taking it. I knew this was something I had to do and agreed to the terms.”

“Friday I will fly out to sign the contract and then head to Ft. Lauderdale for training camp.”

Molina (18-1, 14 KO’s) said that this fight against Arreola is truly the most important one in his career and has a game plan come win or lose.

“I have been waiting for an opportunity like this for a very long time and after this fight, I will truly know where my life is going to lead me,” said Molina. “If I win the fight, then I will receive a guaranteed shot at the world title against Klitschko and that would definitely fulfill a lifelong dream.”

“However, if I should lose against Arreola, then my run might just end that very night. I am getting married in March and have two college degrees as well. So I do have something to fall back on if I should decide to hang it up. I have put my life on hold for this sport and come February 18^th, everything will come into perspective.”

Molina knows he is going to be a huge underdog in this fight against Arreola. However, he said he wouldn’t have it any other way and will have quite a bit of support behind him.

“I know people are going to underestimate me and that I am an underdog. But I have no problem being the underdog and have absolutely nothing to lose,” said Molina. “After I lost my first fight of my professional career, I promised myself one more shot and have won 18 straight fights since then. I made it back from that loss and feel the biggest reason for it was that god was on my side and hopefully he will be there for me on February 18^th.”

“One other thing I will have on my side that night is a lot of my family, friends and supporters will head to Corpus to watch me fight. I know that having a lot of support up there is going to bring me that added motivation and they will give me the strength and energy I need that night. I am definitely going to leave it all in the ring and hopefully will put on the performance of a lifetime.”