Aaron Pryor vs. Pernell Whitaker at 140

yes. pryor was fast not as fast as whitaker granted but threr is a chance and i feel pryor was good enough to take his chance,

 

I'll take this a step further, and say the two top quality fighters Pryor beat, Arguello and Cervantes, both were standup, erect fighters, probably to a fault. Not only that, they were both aging and past their peaks, which made them even more stiff/rigid than usual. Both of them were standup targets for Pryor's looping overhand punches.

Whitaker was the polar opposite of that. He was as flexible as they come.

 

Re-watch Arguello vs Pryor 1.

Aaron could throw straight punches, and he did..for the majority of the fight.

 

I watched the fight last night. Pryor's best scoring weapon throughout the fight was his jab, IMO. However, his balance leaves a lot to be desired. He's always wide open for straight punches down the middle. Arguello must have landed around 8-10 clean and hard right hands at long range before crumbling during the 14th. Pryor's style is based on workrate, movement, and punches from all angles. But trust me, someone as razor sharp as Whitaker would find him easy to hit if he fought aggressively, which he would do. While Pryor's arms and legs are loose, he's pretty straight up and down from the torso and head. He ocassionally ducked to waist height with Arguello, but he doesn't hold his gloves up and slip on a regular basis.

 

I agree. Whenever Pryor got up on his toes and flicked the jab out there, it landed the majority of the time and was causing Arguello visible distress. When he started sticking and moving from the outside half-way through the fight, it became most apparent that Aaron has some great boxing ability and a really good jab when he uses it. He could have won the fight quite handily had he done that all night, but that's wasn't Pryor.

I've never disputed that Sweet Pea could find the target whenever he let his hands go. What I do wonder is, if Pea can't hurt Pryor, and I don't think he can, why would that slow down Pryor's offense? I simply don't think it would, and as elusive as Pea is, Pryor has the strength, speed, and tenacity to upset Pea's rhythm and taking him out of his comfort zone.

Nelson was strong, but there wasn't a lot of urgency in his work, and he didn't have the footspeed or handspeed of Pryor. Neither did Chavez.

 

Pea wouldn't hurt Pryor. But he does have the jab, left cross, combinations, better balance, inside game, and ability to box effectively on the retreat. See, Arguello was static with his feet and simply stood his ground with Pryor - his style. Whitaker has the ability to stand his ground, defend himself in the pocket, with sufficient offense as well, and overall fight up close better than Arguello. As I've said previously, he's also got the ability to change the height of himself up close and at arms length. Whitaker's power wouldn't slow down Pryor's offense, his style would though. And he's got something up his sleeve Arguello never even had in his prime - the ability to glide away from an opponent, sometimes backing up in straight lines, and score punches simaltenously.

And at long range, Whitaker is far more well rounded and precise than Pryor. He's got a better jab, and much better defense to fire counters back in return. When Pryor decides to get on his toes, circle, and throw the jab like he did against Arguello, he comes off second best. Whitaker was razor sharp to get himself into a defensive position after jabbing. His left glove tucked into his chin, bending the knees, and stepping around. Pryor's bad balance and kamikaze style would see him getting popped. His head is far too wide open for such an accurate shooter like Whitaker.

Pryor's offense wouldn't be triggering on the same high voltage against Whitaker as it was against Arguello. Don't think just because Whitaker wasn't a puncher that Pryor would let himself get heavily outscored and put on high amounts of pressure at the same time during every round, thus being unconcerned with punches landing on him. People tend to go with this theory for many fights. It sounds great, but doesn't always work.

Lewis-Tua, Leonard-Duran II, Calzaghe-Lacy, Ali-Liston 1. See the pattern? I'm sure Pryor would be more competitive than the losers here, but this certainly backs up my claim that it's not just power that keeps some fighters honest.

The same appiles for Duran fighting Whitaker.

 

Actually Pryor had faster hands than Whitaker. Pea had quick hands, but not especially quick. His reflexes are what were so quick.

Pryor had VERY fast hands. Alot faster than he gets credit for.

 

Good thread.

 

This one wouldn't have a favorite in my opinion,, but I'll say this, being in the ring for 15 rounds with Aaron Pryor would be a helluva long time for Sweet Pea. I could see the Hawk really getting to him in the last couple of rounds. If not Whitaker takes a split d.

 

I'm honestly not seeing the competitive fight that others are here. Pea was at his ABSOLUTE best when he was playing Matador to the Bull, and that is likely how the fight would shape up. That is Pryor's only chance to win via decision, is to take it to May and simply outwork him. I almost spit out my water reading a few posts saying how Pryor could stop him, that is simply so far fetched that I can't take it seriously. If absolute killers, and people that hit harder than Pryor and were bigger couldn't KO a past his prime Whitaker, how on God's Green Earth is Pryor going to? Felix couldn't and neither could Hoya, Pryor ain't KOing anybody here.

Further, if he tries to box Pea at range, that would be the worst case scenario for Pryor, he's not winning a fight at range with Pea. I know it sounds like an exaggeration, but literally, Pea only needs one punch to win a fight like that with Pryor... His jab. Pryor upright and exposed chin would have Jab bouncing off it like a speed bag. Of course he'd use his cross as well, and Pea was an excellent body puncher, but a jab would mostly get the job done. Whitaker, relatively easy decision.