Aaron Pryor rated 35th out of a list of the greatest fighters in the last 50 years before 1996

He should have fought Saoul Mamby, Leroy Haley,and Bruce Curry. Especially Mamby.

 

Agreed.

 

Correct me if i am mistaken but i thought we were not allowed 2 accounts?

 

I will add .. That he DEFINATELY should have fought SRL and Duran .. how can you pass on those fights ..sh*tty contract or not

 

Oh sorry, I had trouble getting back into the Mark Ant account, one account is saved through twitter and the other via facebook, is there any way I can delte Mark Adam?

 

Some obscure footage of an amateur Pryor, if anyone is interested.

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Ask a moderator i think, they should help.
Message Mcgrain.

 

Probably but I don't doubt he would have beaten all of them, though. And I don't think he needed them to secure his legacy.

 

Pryor really divides opinion on these boards (but then so does Roberto Duran and he's clearly an ATG so go figure!). Some say he was unproven at the highest level while others say he was the real deal and did enough in his short prime to prove it.

I have to admit that I'm in the latter camp. I think that even though his two biggest wins were against faded greats in Cervantes and Arguello I think this view gets overstated. Yes, Cervantes was coming to the end but no-one did to Cervantes what Pryor did to him. And I think Arguello was in great shape and even if past his absolute peak was still a fearsome opponent. Pryor was immense in that fight.

Then there's the controversy. With a life outside the ring that was even wilder than his style inside it, Pryor had more in common with his namesake Richard than just a surname. His biggest victory is shrouded in the black bottle mystery ("the one I mixed") and his entourage and pre-fight antics turned a lot of people off, but make no mistake that Pryor was a true champion.

His intensity was only matched later in the decade by Mike Tyson and Jeff Fenech but in the early 80s, in an era of outstanding fighters and superstar personalities, there was still no one quite like him. Somewhat inevitably, his talent burnt brightly but briefly and yes, his extracurricular activities eventually caught up with him but between 1980 and 1983, he was one of the very best in a deep pool of boxing talent.

 

They were minor titlists during a time when politics made it hard to get unification matches happening. Haley basically did nothing except beating an aged declined Mamby and Curry was stopped pretty much as soon as he got past Haley x 2. Pryor would have pumped all three and there was never any clamor for the matches.

 

True. At the time it was Pryor and then everyone else, and anyone in Column B was considered an also-ran. There was zero interest in title unification for Pryor. They were always looking at lightweights to move up to meet him or maybe him move up to face Leonard.