He also drank from Panama's "special bottle" for the entire fight. You can see Panama bring out the aforementioned bottle (the one he mixed) after rounds 2,7&13 and his corner wasn't even shown on the telecast after every round. I am glad that more and more people are placing asterisk over Pryor's career. He really deserves to be mentioned in the same vein as Luis Resto, Antonio Margarito and other despicable cheats of this sport.
Cheating is cheating, if you wanna say that Pryor should've been stripped and had the fight be turned into a NC, that's all cool, I'd honestly agree with you- But it is in no way similar to the cases of Resto or Margarito. A fighter drinking an unknown substance is not gonna give him the ability to do HALF of what Collins Jr or Margarito did in their fights. I also don't think some random mixed fluid is going to give someone the ability to beat someone else... Whatever was in that bottle, it wasn't magic. The beating that Pryor gave Arguello isn't something that just happens when you give a fighter a drink.
His cheating might not have been as egregious, but it still gave him an unfair advantage. One doesn't get to blatantly cheat and later claim they would have won regardless. If Panama & Pryor didn't feel like cheating was necessary to win, they wouldn't have cheated in the first place.
I agree that it still gave him an unfair advantage, I also don't think that it's something that should be glossed over either, but I do think that Pryor's performance is still notable enough to stand on its own with a grain of salt. To me, it's a similar case to Bowe - Golota.
There is an old thread on BF from 2009 about the documentary film called Assault in the Ring featuring Luis Resto. Resto claimed that "Panama Lewis provided his fighters "asthma pills" crushed up and mixed with water to provide them unnatural energy and stamina increases through means of "opening up the lungs." One poster explained in great detail how taking such a drug could affect fighter's performance in the ring. In case you are interested, I suggest giving it a read. Link to thread in question: https://www.boxingforum24.com/threa...lack-bottle-after-assault-in-the-ring.159477/
Pryor was a marvel, but overrated imo. A prime Tszyu is a real challenge. Pryor showed ability, but his defensive lapses and so so resume don't give me confidence.
No problem Tszyu timing Pryor. But can he knock him out? I say no. Pryor would be all over him and forcre him on the back foot is my guess slugging it out. I'll take Pryor. This could end up being a poor mans Haglar Hearns style fight
No argument here. I agree with you about prime Tzysu being a real challenge. I was a big fan. I just think Pryor has the perfect style to beat him.
I felt like it could be part of how much Resto hated Lewis though,either way it's the same issue as most mysteries of the boxing world,we don't know the real answers if we don't see it being performed up close.
There’s not a fighter in history at 140 that Tszyu couldn’t KO but I still think Prior wins this 7 out of 10 times.
I could see Pryor using his boxing skill to break KT down and many people forget when Aaron wanted to he could really box.