Hearns knocks him out. Pryor didn't have enough defence to go against Hearns. I say Tommy takes him out early.
Im assuming we are talking 147 lbs with Hearns circa 81 vs Pryor 81. Pryor would be stepping up in weight. Pryor would have the amateur victory psychological edge and would be closest thing to 1938 Henry Armstrong the boxing world has seen. The Pryor from the Arguello fights was otherworldly. Hearns has to get Aaron out of there in 3 rounds, otherwise I can't see him surviving the kind of pressure Pryor is going to bring. BUT...Pryor would be going up a weight class. How would this affect his punching power and more importantly his stamina? For me, the fight comes down to this. If Pryor can move forward and assert his will for more than three rounds, Hearns is done. Don't see this fight going the distance either way. 'll go with what I think will be the ESB underdog, but I'll take Black Bottle Pryor.
hearns landed it on leanard, he took it, so could pryor. I think there might be a couple flash knockdowns, but pryor by late roung ko similar to how the aurgualo fights ended
Pryor looked invulnerable against Arguello, but Alexis was going up in weight, for a 3rd title. Pryor ate lots of right hands in the first fight, and despite his dominating performance in the 2nd fight, he looked like he was getting hurt to the body just before the ref warned Arguello about low shots. Point is, he is there to be hit. Also, are we sure that Pryor will hurt Hearns? With the exceptions of Hagler, and Barkley, who were so much bigger than Pryor that a comparison is not sensible, that doesn't end well against Hearns. Taking two similar size guys, Cuevas, and Duran, as an indicator, I would say this ends early. I realize that Pryor was a lot better than Pipino, but Cuevas was pretty durable, and Pryor was not better than Roberto. Given that Duran found out that rolling with punches is not very effective when fighting someone as fast as Hearns, I imagine Pryor, who just sort of ate them, would get hammered. I see a lot more in common between Pryor and Duran than I ever saw between Pryor and Leonard. I don't think Pryor had the style to do like Ray against Hearns. And, as I said before, he didn't have the size to take the route Marvin and Iran took.
I pretty much agree with you. A few points. 1. Arguello was actually going for a title in his 4th weight, not 3rd. And he also had a lot of mileage on his treads. Seriously, this "Pryor beats Hearns, because Arguello is like Hearns" is one of the stupidest common refrain I hear in boxing. 2. Cuevas had a great chin indeed - likely the superior chin than Pryor. 3. Pryor was really a natural lightweight moving up because he couldn't get a title fight at 135. He'd be a small welterweight, and against Hearns, he'd look tiny.
