Just look at who he fought. Other than Ali, there aren't too many other fighters throughout history who fought the caliber of guys he did. Only problem with Arguello was defense (at times) and he was susceptible to being outboxed, particularly when he was not busy enough. But put Arguello in a fight to the finish and not too many in history could have beaten him. Hell, even Pryor needed to be doped up to do so.
Hey:nono It was peppermint schnapps, Panama Lewis said so, and Lewis is well... I cannot find the right adjective!
Seriously. Was it at that time any kind of stuff that could have helped somebody to take punches and/or react in a such a way Pryor reacted? I don't think that any particular mix of "water with water":huh could have helped at that moment of the fight.
Without buying into the argument one could say the first loss was so overwhelming (at such an advanced career stage too) that Alexis was never ever going to be the same fighter again. If you saw it the finish was absolutely brutal, and i mean brutal. There was fear for Alexis's well being for some time after the fight.
Agree. The first fight ruined Arguello. Also, the bottom line is the rule is water only in the water bottle. It is clear there was something else in that bottle. Cheating is cheating is cheating, as they say in baseball...whoops. There is no doubt that Pryor was a serious drug addict too. Also, there is no doubt that Lewis was one of the worst cheaters of all time, so if anyone was going to put uppers of some kind in the water to give Pryor a lift/boost of energy, it was him. Remember the padding being removed from Louis Resto's gloves? That was Panama Lewis too.
I'm not a list-maker, but I think he's the finest junior-lightweight ever, and he was superb at 126 and 135 also.
Considering he accumulated a "Who's Who" resume of wins from featherweight to light welterweight, I'd put him in my Top 25 ATG. Some folks may not remember that even after those brutal losses to Pryor, Arguello TKO'd a prime Billy Costello, who'd won the WBC light welter title from Bruce Curry and then defended it against three top level guys: Ronnie Shields, Saoul Mamby and Leroy Haley. Unfortunately, by the time he faced Arguello Costello had already lost his LW title to Lonnie Smith. Otherwise, Alexis might have added another title to his record. The win against Costello was a big feather in Arguello's cap. I wish he'd stayed retired after that. But he was proud and a little depressed about having lost to Pryor. Nowadays I'm not sure whether Arguello would be as successful. He was a very patient fighter, which might be a detriment in 12 round title fights. His corner would need to remind him to hit the afterburners earlier.