I have since then Napoles impresses me more and more with every watch Only fight I pick Pryor to lose at 140
Napoles would have either outboxed or even outbrawl Pryor. Too much skills for the Hawk who was also a great fighter himself but his style would be tailor made for Napoles.
Napoles is a Full fledged WW AtG Top 10 for sure at WW, probably top 5, Pryor is an exciting little guy at WW that never beat anyone but an at the end of his Career Cervantes, who still put him down, and Arguello who they had to cheat to beat, by the 2nd Arguello fight his heart and soul were taken by Pryor in the 1st one, you want to see a Pryor clean and not on anything to help him stay up in a fight, watch the Bobby Joe Young fight, that was the same Pryor, same style, same attitude, same conditioning, only difference, 100% clean, got his azz destroyed by a nobody, Napoles withstands his crazy initial rush and then Knocks him out cold, and yes I'm a huge Pryor fan from cincinnati, but I know what i'm talking about.
Napoles is not top 5 atg at Welterweight. Griffith has better wins at 147 than Napoles and Griffith himself is not top 5 147 boxer. Top 5 147 boxers are Sugar Ray Robinson Mickey Walker Henry Armstrong Sugar Ray Leonard Cuban Hawk Gavilan Other 5 consists of Luis Manuel Rodriguez, Basilico, Barbadoes Walcott, Griffith and Napoles.
Although I agree Napoles outboxes Pryor I dont believe hes on another level than Arguello. I think there are some better fighters than Alexis but there both gonna be teir 1 fighters. I dont think anyone is levels above Arguello.
Two tremendous fighters at 140 .. Pryor could have spent his career at 135 and only moved up because the top guys wanted no part and he got the shot at 140 .. I have to slightly favor Napoles who showed on top of everything a terrific chin against MOnzon, taking some nasty shots without going down at age 35 .. he'd have to be very careful because Pryor was a very rare fighter, a true KO puncher with exceptional stamina and punch output .. may be Naoples by decision but I don't see any dominance here.
Jose Mantequilla Napoles beats Aaron The Hawk Pryor, by stoppage in round 13. Pryor starts off fast, attempting to land quick combinations, but they are easily thwarted by Napoles, who counters with his quick left hook to the body. Napoles fights smooth as his nick name, not getting flustered, aggressively attacking Pryor, who cannot seem to overwhelm his more experienced foe with his whirlwind punching. Aaron exhausted, slides to the canvas for the full 10 count.
Total mismatch here … Don't recall Pryor having any experience at WW . the biggest he could probably get anyway is around 144 is my guess