Aaron Pryor against the Welterweights of the 80s

Let's say Aaron Pryor makes the decision to move up to 147 right after beating Arguello in their rematch. He actually stays focus and lives a clean lifestyle without the drug abuse. His fight with Bobby Joe Young would not have happened but any hopes of a Sugar Ray Leonard showdown is out the window but he still decides to face the other top fighters at 147. How well does Pryor do at 147 and would he have been able to beat some of the best Welterweights of 1984 - 1989 if he had stuck around?

Around that time period there were fighters such as Donald Curry, Marlon Starling, Simon Brown, Lloyd Honeyghan, Milton McCrory, Mark Breland, Maurice Blocker, Colin Jones, Nino LaRocca.

 

Not as effective I think Pryor is too small for the Welterweight division quite honestly.

I could see Pryor losing to Curry, Starling, for sure at their best.

PS I just see your not talking about a prime Pryor and you're talking about Pryor between 1984-1989. Pryor by that time was fading fast so he'd probably lose to even more Welterweights than Curry, Starling.

 

He possibly beats McCrory but loses to Donald Curry who was a fine Welterweight until he lost to Lloyd Honeyghan. Apart from Curry, he has a good chance against the likes of Marlon Starling, Mark Breland who was definitely too green in 1985-86, and even Lloyd Honeyghan. Im not saying he beats them all, but, specially with Breland, he'd have a fair chance.

 

He gets his clocked cleaned, too small. Probably comes in at 144/145 and gets outpointed or stopped. He passed on Duran and SRL. For how exciting Pryor was to watch slug it out, his career is somewhat a sad story with bad decisions.

That said, Pryor Starling would be a good scrap while it lasted

 

Pryor looked really good when he stopped Arguello in the rematch but noticeably slowed down by the time he fought Nick Furlano and Gary Hinton. I agree that Donald Curry and Marlon Starling could have picked apart Pryor based on their size and stylistic advantage.

It would have been interesting to see Pryor against fighters like Honeyghan, McCrory, or Jones though where he would have decent chance winning.

 

The Hinton fight is not often talked about but I thought that was a very close fight and I'm not sure Pryor actually won it.

I think that fight to me shows Pryor would not deal with someone like Pernell Whitaker.

 

I recall Pryor just barely nicking it but Hinton showed how to deal with his aggression.

I've been back and forth on Pryor's chances against Pernell Whitaker but I still think Pryor at his best could edge Whitaker due to his workrate. I would favor Whitaker to beat Pryor more often if they were to fight in a series.

 

I really don’t think he’d fare too well. That was a monster of a welterweight era and Pryor pretty much topped out at junior welter .

 

I’d like to see Aaron Pryor vs Colin Jones.

I think Jones, like the others mentioned in this thread, probably beats him. Just too big and too strong for Aaron … at 147, I think the Hawk could sting someone but probably not do enough to keep them off or take them out.

 

Blocker, Jones and LaRocca are the only ones I might favor him to beat.

 

If there's one fighter that seemed to have reached
his limit for his size and fighting style, it
was Aaron Pryor.
Unlike Henry Armstrong, who smothered the opponents
by staying in their chest, pushing them back, and
keeping them in a defensive mode, Pryor though
aggressive preferred mid distance, he gave the
opponent room to operate.
That worked fine at Light/ Jr.welter, but I
believe it would be a problem for him
at welter and above.
Though Pryor would do fine against
some contenders at welter, when
it comes to championship level opponents
I believe his small size, and reckless
aggression would turn disastrous for
him.

 

Pryor
Pryor was clearly past his best when he fought Hinton.
That fight should be seen in the same light as Whitaker's
performance against Hurtado, where he began to
to show serious decline.

Pryor in my opinion would've been a very tough
match-up for Whitaker prime vs prime.
Pryor would have the foot speed, to keep
up with Whitaker, while not as fast hand
speed wise, he was plenty fast enough
and he hit much harder.
The fight would be tough for both
men.
But prime vs prime, I'd lean to
Pryor.
If any fighter could keep Whitaker
off balance, and over thinking, it
would be Pryor.

 

I don’t watch any of those guys properly besides Donald and Marlon… both of those guys would beat him - they could box really good, Curry probably dismantles him fast and he most likely can’t touch Starling. Honestly Pryor is overrated IMO people always said he’s the 1# guy at 140lbs but there are a bunch of guys I’d favour and he should be glad he never got the Leonard or Duran bout he claimed to want.

 

Pryor is overrated IMO.

 

After the second Arguello fight, Pryor went full steam ahead on his drug use, hard to tell how he'd have done. I agree his size would be an impediment especially with his style. One thing I do know, if he engaged the 80's welters some fantastic whirlwind clashes would have occurred that I'd pay to see.