August 2, 1980 was a crazy day in boxing. I remember seeing Pryor beat Cervantes and Hearns beat Cuevas, both in the same day. I thought I was seeing the future of boxing play out right there in front of me on TV. Pryor is closer to ATG status as a H2H fighter than on resume. His resume has an old Cervantes and a possibly tainted win over Alexis, and everything else is considerably less impressive. But there's not many at 140 I'd pick over him.
I'll answer that, theirs no evidence. Arguello was in excellent shape. What proves that is the hellish pace they fought , and he was still firing bombs in the 14th rd until he was stopped. He was on a 16 fight winning streak and fought every top contender in several weight classes and dominated them, ko'ing all but 3. After his wars with Pryor it was obvious those fights had taken a toll. But it didn't stop him from blasting out a very good fighter in B.Costello with one clean shot in 4 rds.
Ugh, people that bring up the second fight seem unable to comprehend how much the first fight would have taken out of Arguello who was already a tad long in the tooth in the first fight.
Turned down offers from both Leonard and Duran. later accepted a fight with Leonard but then he retired with an eye injury. Can't believe this has to be explained on the Classic form.
I think that was the day Tex Cobb beat Earnie Shavers too by landing several left jaws to the hand until poor Earnie couldn't take any more.
Yep, that's right my man...poor Jose was made to feel like a leper in the 140 div....which, in Kid Pambele's case, doesn't speak well of his confidence...or of Locche's...or of Loi's....."let poor Curtis Cokes deal with him" lol...
Would Pryor be exempt from The top 20 Champions who were juiced up? Would anybody care to list a few of the Twenty, they're all equal, whether #1 or #20. In all divisions. They have lots of fans, who don't want to admit it! Don't pull no punches. The total will definitely exceed twenty.
None were sucking a bottle full of ephedrine administered by Panama Lewis in the championship rounds of their career defining fight. Pryor has a very thin resume without that fight.
Arguello was a superb boxer, if he would have bent/lean over a bit, like Floyd Patterson, nobody could have beat him. He fought in a straight up stance, making him an easier (chin) target to hit. He nearly was a perfect boxer. One of the greats.