Who would have had success at 147: Aaron Pryor, Antonio Cervantes, Nicolino Locche, or Kostya Tszyu

If it's in their own eras probably only Tyszu. I think he rehydrated to 155 IIRC, he had a 275lb bench and clean jerk, so he had the strength. There were champions like Judah, Spinks, Mayorga, Forrest and Mosley that he would have his chances against. He beat Forrest in the amateurs. Although Forrest improved allot as a pro. I don't see him facing up very well with Delahoya or Trinidad or Quartey though.

Pryor's era is probably way too hard for him to win a belt. Loche and Cervantes aren't beating Napoles

 

In reality, this is correct given the state of the welterweight divisions as they existed at the time — Tszyu probably wins a belt at 147 in his day or stands a good chance to (I think Forest is a bridge too far and Mayorga may just be too physically strong but the others he could at the very least compete with at welter).

In a vacuum, I might l Iike Pryor’s chances. His management built a narrative that he had to move up to 140 because he couldn’t get a title shot at lightweight but he only made 135-ish like three times in his career as far as recorded weights (I think more of the fights with no weights listed are early in his career so who cares if he made 135 for a four-rounder) and never beat anyone of consequence at 135 to make any sort of title claim at that weight.

He wouldn’t be a large welter but he had power and speed and stamina to burn, and I think all that carries up a division except maybe he’s not a KO puncher but just a capable puncher. I tend to think a mythical 147-pound version of each of these guys in a round-robin sees Pryor sweep the series.

(Of course the welterweight version we did get of Aaron vs Bobby Joe Young was already diminished considerably by drug abuse so I am talking more of a prime Pryor coming in at like 144-145.)

Aaron Pryor vs Duran of New Orleans is an interesting fight, or most of Duran’s welterweight incarnations aside from Leonard I or Palomino … and actually Leonard I is the only welterweight version of Roberto in a title fight who looks formidable. I could see Pror out-hustling most versions of Roberto that we saw at that weight.

 

I do Pryor was a small guy at 5'6 and could of made 135 throughout his prime if he needed to. If he's fighting at 137 it's probably his walk around weight.

In turn this is why Duran-Pryor is a salivating match up. Duran has him as a better technician, timing, defense, power and possibly strength. But Pryor's relentless workrate, greater speed, durability and he wasn't a bad boxer even though he did keep his chin carried a little high. In comparison Duran liked to take his foot off the gas in fights and tended to fade down the straight, which we see even in Leonard 1. Given the bombs Pryor took from Arguello, I don't see him getting ko'd although Duran probably hurts him early.

If a younger Pryor gets a shot at Benitez or Palomino or Cuevas when they were champs he might just do it too but he was inexperienced in 1979, his first big scalp was in 1980 and his peak is probably Arguello 1982, but could he have been nearly as good in 1979? Maybe

 

I’m not questioning so much whether Pryor could have made 135 on his way up — he weighed close enough to that limit to make it pretty clear that he likely could have — but the idea put forth as a narrative by his handlers that he HAD to fight at 140 because he couldn’t get a title shot at 135 is false … because he hadn’t done anything whatsoever to merit a lightweight title fight.

Of the few more recognizable names on his record up to Cervantes, they were 140-pounders — the durable Canadian Al Ford had just come off fighting for his national title at that weight and was campaigning at junior welter; Peppermint Frazier hadn’t made lightweight in like eight years. The only true lightweight Aaron fought who wasn’t a club fighter was Norman Goins, a journeyman who was a 135-pounder who occasionally fought a bit heavier but was clearly a lightweight by trade.

If he had beaten a few lightweight contenders, or even fringe contenders, and had to venture upward, that’s a fair claim to make, But he was fighting pure 140-pounders so the idea that he couldn’t get a title shot at 135 just doesn’t hold water.

 

Probably Tszyu not a given though.