"Aaron Pryor of '82 vs. Kostya Tszyu of 2000" at 140... Who Dah Man?

I think more highly of Tszyu than you do, but you back your points up well. The Judah fight at the time legitimizes Tszyu a bit for me.

 

Where I differ with you is I think Kostya hit considerably harder than Arquello, whether or not I agree with depends on what you mean but "not in Arguello's class" If you mean punching power, I disagree, if you mean as an over all fighter..okay I can live with that. but I still think K.T is a good fighter, and he's also a natural super lightweight, something Arguello wasn't.

 

So much bull**** in a single post...

He ate a lot of right hands by Roger Mayweather? Are you serious? Have you watched the fight? Nobody ate any good punches in that fight, it was a boring hugfest. You must be thinking of the 2nd Chavez fight.

Who fights a Laporte in their 4th pro fight 4 months into their pro career? It took Pryor more than 3 years and 20 fights to get to the level of Laporte.

Yeah, yeah they all sucked after he battered them. He was a protected and carefully managed boxer fighting exclusively in Australia. :think No, quite to the contrary he fought in the US and fought everyone that was willing to fight him.

The truth: only one who wanted to fight him at the time was Oscar De La Hoya.
Mosley? The Mosley who was so confident in his ability that he cut a lot of weight to fight at 135 and barely beat Phillip Holiday by running for 12 rounds, who then jumped the whole division not to endanger his quest for a big payday against De La Hoya?
Mayweather who fought Tszyu's sparring partner Corley, Brusseles and Gatti?
Who are these fighters who wanted to fight him and he avoided them or was steered clear of them?

Kostya Tszyu beat 15 The Ring TOP10 rated JWW.
Aaron Pryor beat 5.

Pryor beat a faded Cervantes, who was flown in to his hometown, to win the title.

But mostly his reputation is based on his wins over Arguello (a former FW near the end of his career) especially the 1st one (which has a big question mark hanging over it). The same Arguello who never fought a TOP10 ranked JWW. Yes he beat Costello who was beaten up and knocked out cold in his previous fight by Smith. The fact remains, Arguello was never a proven 140 pounder and neither was his power at the weight.

Many felt he lost to Gary Hinton.

He was also battered by club fighter Bobby Young in what was supposed to be a tune-up fight.

And the most important thing and what made Pryor Pryor was his stamina. Was it legit? Most things point to him being a cheater and if you take away his stamina what have you got?

Tszyu's not in Arguello's class? Tszyu was a master boxer whose boxing skills were proven at the amatuer and pro level.

Sorry to say it because Arguello was a class act and great champion but he fought like a plodder against Pryor.

A prime Tszyu circa 1999 would KO Pryor between rounds 7-10. Pryor never faced anyone as strong, skilled or who hit as hard as Tszyu. Pryor never faced a decent fighter who was in his prime or near his prime in his whole career.

 

Nice post , the JWW division was quite good back then and had a lot of depth, I think that the style match up works more for Aaron than Kostya, though.

Had Kostya gotten a big scalp, like SSM, Floyd or ODLH then he would be thought of a bit higher, but he could lose all three as well. Not saying that he was ducked etc... but it was not like they all were super keen to fight him either.

 

:happy:happy
I was about ready to vent at that post as well but luckily I read this which is far more detailed and well put than I could do.

I heartily concur Sir.:good

 

I think Pryor would rise from an early KD to win a tough bout.

 

..........It's Lennox Blackmore, not "Lenny."



I'm sorry, I just had to.

 

if hatton stopped him pryor destroys him before the 10th

 

I can see it either way; Pryor battering him with nonstop aggression, or Kostya consistently beating him to the punch with sharp, accurate blows...

In the end, I think Tszyu's fundamentally sound boxing and hard punch does the trick. Pryor is too reckless.