I've heard this debate a few times in seperate threads so thought I'd make a thread for it. How highly do you rate him>? Where the top guys really all ducking him? How do you think he would have fared against them?
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I've heard this debate a few times in seperate threads so thought I'd make a thread for it. How highly do you rate him>? Where the top guys really all ducking him? How do you think he would have fared against them?
I think Leonard ducked him i heard he moved up in weight to avoid him as for how good Pryor was one of best ever at his weight class his relentless style and stamina+chin+speed were excellent i find it hard for anyone to beat him at his weight class Pryor feared no one he wanted to fight Duran aswell i heard but doubt that match up could of been made.Quote:
Originally Posted by El Gamo
I believe he only lost one time as a professional. He also beat Alexis Arguello which is no easy task.
Don't care for the music .. but the beginning of this is pretty damn funny .
[youtube=425,350]4j6Zels3i_U[/youtube]
" He would take your best punch, spit in your eye, and then kick your ass" - Budddy La Rosa.
I thought id bump this thread as i dont really know that mauch about Pryor either :confused:
He was pretty good. My Pop swears up and down SRL was duckin him.
A couple of his opponents got unlucky enough to actually knock him down.
I say unlucky because if he got floored, he would just get pissed off and then beat the living daylights out of them.
He was a monster in the ring. So much Stamina and so much Relentlessness. I cannot think of anyone who could have beat him at 140. There may have been a couple who could deal with him, but they would be in the fight of their life.
ITV 4 showed the clip where he had the bottle with the "mix". It was definitely suspicious as he was tired at the end of 12th and he had never gone further than that in his career which is what the commentator said against Arguello. Then he puts on that burst and stops him as if he had been "suped" up. He took some bombs from Arguello, particularly with the right hand so his chin was brilliant but where did he get that extra burst from will taint that fight. Leonard would have handled him at Welter, but he probably could have handled Duran, but do not know if he could have beaten him.
I rank Pryor as the best 140lb Champion of all time ahead of Tszyu and Chavez. He could be reckless at times and get himself knocked down but that only meant danger for his opponents not him! The Leonard issue is something else again, let's just say SRL never went out of his way to accommodate a fight with Pryor at any time. SRL may well have outboxed him but Pryor was a machine and unstoppable at 140lb, 147lb may have been different. There is controversy surrounding him though and i will let others who know more about that explain.
Leonard did duck himQuote:
Originally Posted by The Boxer
Ahh you are talking about the bottle his trainer "Mixed" heheQuote:
Originally Posted by THE THIRD MAN
I am not sure what advantages Cocaine may have gave him, but it was never truly confirmed I don't think.
I do know that his habit most likely shortened his career.
Quote:
Originally Posted by El Gamo
Pryor is a funny subject...Not just on forums but in the boxing world in general.....It is almost like his name is taboo....Of course on the forums you will always have the idiot who has only one thing to say about him and that is the old...Gimme the Black Bottle...But unfairly at times that moment seems to be all some people know of him....I always sum Aaron up like this...
He wasn't the greatest boxer you will ever see but his boxing ability was underestimated....
He hit you until either you went down or he could not hit any more....
If you went toe to toe with a prime Pryor you were an idiot looking to get your ass kicked....If you tried to oubox him you found out even though you were a better boxer then he was it seemed to do you little good.....
He was a 140lb beast that could not be caged.....When people talk about guys like Tyson and Foreman and how they scared their opponents before the bell even rang or how when they attacked they were vicious....IMO those guys if you measured them up pound for pound against Pryor held nothing over the Hawk in terms of intimidation or in terms of brutality.....
I am not the biggest Pryor fan there ever was but I have always admired the level of his game was in the ring.....You had reason to be scared if there was ever a fighter to be scared of....
Did guys duck Pryor....Hard to say but they did not look to fight him that much is for sure
Im afraid I never rated him to any degree, he never beat a top Lt welter. He beat Arguello whose best days were aqs a super feather and struggled, never did it for me.
He was a great fighter with an exciting style, but outside of Arguello his level of opposition wasnt as good as other great fighters from around his era. He was lucky that he retired with only one loss but he is no doubt an ATG imo.
i personly believe that he gets overlooked when talking about that era. Most people talk about SRL Hagler Hearns Duran. Pryor is normally not mentioned.
ESPN classic should get off ali's balls and show some fights welter weight fights from the 80's
I have always thought very highly of Pryor, but Scrap makes the good point that he never really fought against a top drawer jr welterweight.
Chavez had his Taylor and Randall, Tszyu had his Judah, Mitchell and Hatton but aside from Arguello, who was coming up in weight, Pryor never really fought a prime and supremely talented 140 pounder.
Still, If we're talking all time, my choice would still be:-
1. Pryor
2. Chavez
3. Tszyu
Pryor was just a beast in the early 80's.
Well i think it funny that people think SRL ducked Pryor but then fights Hearns who ended his career and we never got to see his true prime because of that fight.
I thought Pryor was really good back then. I watched him from the begining. Now looking back I see his biggest win, that over Arguello came under illegal conditions. I don't know how much of the blame goes to Panama Lewis, but Pryor could have been remembered better than he is.
Hey! there ghoster.... I shot some Rep. your way.Quote:
Originally Posted by ghoster
I also agree with you.
An arguement can be made that his biggest win was over Alexis or Cervantes who were both past it.
I think he was an exceptional fighter come forward guy who gave it his all.
But the fact that he never faced an elite prime fighter and the fact that he has such a short career also takes from his legacy.
Also the who bottle incident will forever be there to haunt him.
Alexis Arguello respected him after their fight, enough to say, "Anything I can ever do for you it is done."
If Alexis Respected hiM thats enough for me
Alexis was in awe of Aaron Pryor he also said *I have never been hit with two fists at the same time* Pryor never achieved enough to be mentioned with the likes of the other greats of the 80's, Cervantes was past his best but he also had made 6 defenses of the Jr Welterweight title at that time, and Arguello was moving up above his natural weight class but he still was coming off good wins so he wasn't that past it either. I think Pryor should have moved up to Welterweight to try force a big fight with one of the top boys, unfortunately for Pryor there wasn't any big names at Jr Welterweight division at that time only Ray Mancini but he got upset by Livingstone Bramble so that never happened. Pryor had a very rough child hood and i think all the stuff that happened to him when he was young i think he took it all out on his opponents in the ring, Pryor was one of the most ferocious boxers i've ever seen.Quote:
Originally Posted by hitmandonny