Julio Cesar Chavez vs Aaron Pryor @140

What a joke.

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THIS.

 

“Give me that bottle. The one I mixed.”

 

That was the narrative at the time, and I do believe Aaron moved up to 140 for a more immediate title shot … but look at his record and tell me who he’d beaten at 135 (or at all for that matter) to warrant a lightweight championship fight?

Arguably the best win on his resume was Al Ford, a Canadian lightweight champ who was 50-9 and had lost four of his previous six.

There’s a 17-1-2 guy in there where both weighed around 137 — coming off back-to-back draws and not a name anyone had heard of then or since.

Aaron would have been hell on anyone at lightweight had he gotten a shot in that division, but it wasn’t like he was some Marvin Hagler figure who had beaten a bunch of top guys and was being avoided.

 

The narrative has become extremely exaggerated for me. He barely had a fight at 135 and wasn't even WBA ranked until the turn of 80 after he beat Frazer who had lost his previous two fights. Ring had him at #8 early 80 and he actually got a gig against Cervantes just 10 months after beating Frazer without doing much in between so he did just fine. I don't doubt he had a bit of trouble getting contenders into the ring but he'd done nothing to be some sort of automatic must fight guy for the champs. He got his shot against Cervantes in his 25th fight which was par for the course. SRL got his shot in his 26th bout and he'd done a helluva lot more than Pryor.

 

Internet fans who have a problem with the bottle Aaron was drinking out of need to appear in person at the Florida Athletic Commission and file a formal protest. But you won't. You have had a few beers or smoked a few bowls and you are on here acting like you know the sport that you never competed in.

 

Pryor would be too relentless in this one for me, be interesting to see how Chavez would cope with someone with good hand speed and power in his prime, as post his prime he struggled with both those attributes.

 

Great stuff, John. Just more evidence that you analysis is always can't miss. Great job.

 

Typical Pryor apologist excuse. The man cheated his trainer Panama Lewis was banned for things like this. But Pryor fans keep their heads in the sand.

 

We know how Chavez coped with good hand speed and power , see Frankie Randall. Pryor will hit Chavez hard ,often and at will as Chavez comes forward. Arguello hit harder than Chavez at 140 and he couldn't dent Aaron. I see this fight stopped around the 13th with Chavez face busted up like it was in the second Randall fight only this time corruption won't save him

 

I didn’t mention Peppermint Frazier because he was as entrenched at 140 as one could be — he hadn’t fought as a lightweight since the very early 1970s, so anyone buying the ‘Pryor couldn’t get a lightweight title shot so he moved up’ narrative would be saying that he moved up around the time of this fight (October 1970, his 20th fight).

Even Al Ford, who I mentioned, was a former Canadian lightweight champ but glancing at his boxrec he was coming off a loss for the Canadian 140-pound title when he fought Pryor (May 1979) and was regularly fighting at 140 or above. Oddly there were no weights listed for his fight with Pryor — but Aaron was fighting in the high 130s more often than not leading up to and coming out of that fight.

 

For some unknown reason i never really took to Chavez conversely love Pryor therefore my choice is obvious

 

You’d look like a total idiot filing a protest over a forty year old fight with dead combatants.

But we know already, you idolize the men who fought decades before you were prescribed cholesterol pills, therefore we can sweep over the presence of Panama Lewis in Pryor’s corner.

 

I love Aaron Pryor but Chavez at 135 - 140 was still at the top of his game ands at another level .. Chavez was a monster .. chin, power, strength, conditioning, focus, a bad ass technician who would start to beat the crap out of Aaron the longer the fight went ..

 

It is pretty reasonable to suggest both were past their best at 140; both peaking at 135.


But it would still be a quality fight; with a gun to my head I would pick Chavez to edge a decision.