Aaron Pryor - how good was he or how good could he have been?

Pryor was a nightmare to deal with. I'd hate to be his opponent, for sure. So unorthodox at times, so...bat**** crazy, yet there was method to his madness. As a refresher for this thread, I watched him against Cervantes, and you can see how confused and almost bewildered Cervantes was at times.
Antonio hit him with some bombs, some really lovely counter shots, but Pryor just kept coming, throwing punches from odd angles and overwhelming Cervantes with pure aggression.

Just a horrible, horrible guy to deal with was Pryor. It's a real shame his two wins over Arguello did not serve as the launchpad into stardom, which one would expect. On the contrary, it almost seemed to have the opposite effect.

 

Good explanation

 

Over the years I've seen several ideas of what was put in the bottle by Panama, and by those close to the camp so you notice anyways. May I ask where your information is from?

 

I thought he made the most of his opportunity, upsetting the odds and beating Arguello. People forget how big a name he was in those days. Had to take the Arguello fight becuz Sugar Ray Leonard was too scared to fight him

 

Aaron Pryor was an unorthodox fighter with tremendous stamina, a very high work rate, a huge heart and some underrated boxing skills. Although a great fighter, Pryor wasn't good as Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Ruben Olivares, Jose Napoles, Carlos Monzon or Muhammad Ali in my opinion. In regards to the quality of Pryor's professional career, it should be pointed out he had a 39-1 record and 35 knockouts.

Howard Davis Jr. beat Pryor in the amateurs, but wouldn't have matched up with him well in the professional ranks. Pryor's tremendous stamina and very high work rate would be far too much for Davis in a bout scheduled for ten or more rounds.

- Chuck Johnston

 

I don't think he had the defensive skills of Duran or Mayweather, other than that I agree, he was a hell of a good fighter. Extremely busy, good/great power, threw punches from unusual angles ..

 

Pryor was told to come out strong in the 14th because it was actually Arguello who was fading fast from the cumulative effects of Aaron's sharp blows to the head and relentless pace. You could see the strain in Arguello's face after eating shots; he wasn't used to this level of violence

Arguello had never been pushed this hard before in his career and was really feeling his oats, pushed to his utmost limits

and then,,, coming out for the 14th, Pryor took it up a notch into extreme overdrive and rained punches non stop. It was a performance that eclipsed even Ali - Frazier 3

Aaron had just smoked a legend

and the good thing was, he was just starting to peak

the rematch was even easier

it was drugs that did him in

 

From the Luis Resto/Billy Collins Jr documentary "Assault in the ring". Resto said that Panama would put crushed asthma meds in his water when he was getting tired in fights and after ingesting he would feel as fresh as he was in the beginning of round 1. If Panama did this for Resto then it was almost certainly the drug he put in Pryor's water. It makes 100% sense considering that Pryor was visibly very fatigued at the end of round 13 and looked like he was going to get finished then BOOM all of a sudden after ingesting the substance inside the black bottle he looks good as new coming into round 14.

 

More myth than reality. A terribly overrated fighter that padded his record with club fighters and journeymen and then had the good fortune to catch a totally shopworn version of Cervantes at the end of his tether, and someone who's most notable performance/victory is tainted due to blatant cheating on the part of his cornerman, a notorious slimeball that would earn his own degree of infamy just seven months later.


Also holds the esteemed honour of rejecting career high paydays with both Leonard and Duran in about the space of a month. Probably a wise decision in the longterm to avoid such inevitable beatings, but still a gutless, chicken**** move all the same.

 

Very good, possibly great fighter.Shame he never got to match up with Mamby, or Bruce Curry, because, in all honesty, he wasn't beating the likes of McCory, Curry, or Starling.

 

very good wish he thought more instead of taking drugs.
one of my favourites, no one has come close to imitate that style.