He's talked about quite alot on this forum, and justifiably so. IMO, the greatest Jr. Welterweight who ever lived. Just a shame his career was cut so short. This is a great clip,...except for the stupid, hiphop music background. Enjoy! <object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/au-UVkCcMDg&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/au-UVkCcMDg&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>
Great observation, bro.:bears: I agree wholeheartedly with your analysis of him as the best ever, and there have been some great ones to be sure at jr. welterweight.
If his prime existed today,..those young boxing fans who never witnessed him would be in awe. Just imagine the ferocity of Tyson in a 140 pounder, with unlimited stamina, a concrete chin, great hand and footspeed, the unorthodoxy of a prime Hamed...with punching power O'Plenty. And he averaged above 100 punches a round for his career. Fun to watch.:eeeek:
Yeah, seriously. If he did compete today, we would be enthralled with him and I can't see anyone beating him except maybe a Vernon Forrest type at 147.
Pryor ducked plenty of fighters, and while he did have heart, determination and an unrelenting attack, I'd have trouble ranking him above Niccolino Loche, Floyd Mayweather, Barney Ross, Henry Armstrong, Carlos Ortiz and a lot of fighters who competed under 140 pounds. I wouldn't pick a 140-pound Pryor to beat the 135-pound versions of Duran, Armstrong, Benny Leonard, Pernell Whitaker, Shane Mosley and Joe Gans. Even if you threw out the multitude of 135-pound fighters who were better than the 140-pound Pryor, you still have him competing with all-time-great fighters who won titles and championships at 140, like Oscar de la Hoya and Julio Cesar Chavez. I doubt he'd beat a prime Antonio Cervantez. Wilfred Benitez would beat him both in a boxing match and a crack-smoking contest. Maybe on the same night.
Just outta curiosity,...who did Pryor duck?? It was HE who was ducked at 135 that forced him to move up to 140 to gain a shot at the great, although past his prime Cervantes. Pryor would have smoked DLH and Benetez. Chavez would have given him hell, but his volume of punching would have imo won that fight. As far as Duran?...great fight, and I can't call that one, but it is a close decision either way , imo. Floyd?...Pryor does at least as well as Castillo, probably better and imo wins by late TKO or close decision. Loche? Get fucking real. Pryor's punchrate and stamina overcome Loche's overall technical skills. Nothing to keep Pryor off of him, and Niccolino never faced someone as relentless as Pryor. Ross, Armstrong and Ortiz? Pryor is too modern and too good for any of them. Pryor wins all threee.
There are some great fighters whom I believe could have competed with Pryor and beaten him as well. I will also say, that one of them is NOT Shane Mosley. Pryor would have punched holes in him, IMO. Shane got hit too much and would really struggle to find a way to slow the tempo down. He was never a 12 round, 180 seconds a round kind of fighter and if you weren't that, you needed some "trick" to hang with Pryor, IMO.
Duran was outta the lightweight division before Pryor was there,....PLUS, his sights were set on Leonard. Duran wouldn't have taken that fight if Pryor had called him out in 1979........and I wouldn't have blamed him. He had bigger fish to fry. Wrong O there, JackO.
I agree. Pryor beats Mosley. Shane would put up a helluva fight though, but it wouldnt be enough to win. In all honest, the ONLY fighter from 135-140 in history who I'd pick over Pryor is Duran. Ive never seen Armstrong so I cant speak for him. POSSIBLY Sweet Pea beats him also. But other than Duran, and Whitaker, none is beating Pryor. Floyd has a pretty good chance at beating him also, but i'd make Pryor the favor. Aaron woulda beat Chavez in all out war, he'd have outworked Benitez, ran DLH out the ring, beat a prime Cervantes by decision, overwhelmed the defensive Loche, and he woulda beat the shit outta Tszyu, and Taylor. Aaron was a badass! The only one who coulda tamed him was Duran, who was a BIGGER badass.
Duran offered him a fight. It didn't happen. Leonard offered him a fight. It didn't happen. DeJesus offered him a fight. It didn't happen. Saoul Mamby wanted a unification bout. It didn't happen. Jo Kimpuani, Leroy Haley... Pryor consistently avoided the top fighters at 140.
How bout providing proof? I don't believe any of that. DeJesus got KTFO by featherfisted Saoul Mamby only ONE MONTH prior to Pryor winning his title against Cervantes. Get real brother.
Okay. Watch the fight between Pryor and Dujuan Johnson. Listen to the commentary by Sugar Ray Leonard. :nono: ::
That is like saying that any fighter who doesn't fight a guy who is calling him out, ...is ducking him. Who the fuck wanted to see Pryor vs. Mamby at that time? Come on dude, are you for real? Aaron Pryor is one of the alltime greats, and if you don't acknowledge that you are either stupid, or you really don't like Pryor. Simple as that.
Pryor consistently ducked the best fighters at 140. I don't know... anyone who wanted to see the title unified? Anyone who wanted to see the two best jr. welterweights face off? Anyone who wanted to see the WBA champion fighting the WBC champion? It sucks that Leonard got injured right after offering Pryor a fight, and that he retired instead of fighting Pryor, but Pryor had plenty of top jr. welterweights and welterweights he could have taken on. He fought practically none of them. Oh, I'm not saying that Pryor isn't an all-time-great. I'm just saying that he's not the greatest jr. welterweight of all time. Top five? Maybe, if you're throwing out the mutitude of lightweights who were better than he was, and throwing out the people who only had a fight or two at 140, like Whitaker or De la Hoya. I just think that calling him the greatest jr. welterweight of all time is unfair to the great fighters who came before him.
Aaron Pryor CONSISTANTLY ducked fighters at 140.....is a dumb statement to make. Pryor was ducked, until he had a title, and then mediocre fighters like Mamby, Haley and others called him out......and since he fought the great Arguello instead of them, he ducked them? If you believe that, then you should probably post on the WWF board. ::
Sounds like everything you know about Aaron Pryor comes from that episode of HBO's Legendary Nights. That was the show where he talked about moving up to 140 because he couldn't get a shot at 135 despite the fact that Duran offered him one. It was total crap, and that series was total crap. So, why don't you show everyone here your deep and insightful knowledge of the great Aaron Pryor. Why did Leonard offer Pryor a match after the Dujuan Johnson fight? Oh, I'm sorry. Didn't they talk about that fight in your precious Legendary Nights? You haven't seen it? Awww... too bad.
I have to agree. Sly is right on this one. No one would deny Pryor's greatness, but his resume was hardly impeccable.
Yeah, I see it the same way. I think pretty highly of Pryor in talent/ability and in terms of how well I think he'd do head-to-head against a lot of other top 135/140 lb. fighters. But mythical matchups are speculation and resume/achievements are considerably more important in ranking a fighter, IMO.
I agree, as great as those guys were, and I am a huge Benitez and Cervantes fan, I'd take Pryor over them all. If anyone remembers, several years ago I actually had Kid Pambele as my top jr. welter but changed to Aaron as I studied them both extensively and then picking Pryor by a late round stoppage in a classic battle of attrition. It would have been one of strength and stamina vs. technique and power, an epic battle with both at their peaks. I spoke with former lightweight champion Rodolfo Gonzales who decked Cervantes and was on his way to stopping him when Pambele cut him badly and Gonzalez lost by TKO.
