Since Duran only ever lost real fights to fellow greats but never Mythical ones, I'd expect fightbeat to pick Duran yet again. Had they actually fought though, Pryor would have won.
Your hatred for Duran is transparent. You ONLY hate the man because he's considered to be historically greater than Floyd. That's why you bare no hatred towards Chavez, as he and Floyd are considered on the same greatness tier. But God forbid a man be considered greater than your man crush, you'll tear him to shreds any chance you get. Duran was ALREADY considered an all time great when he moved up to welter. By time he vacated the lightweight title in 79, he was regarded as the best lightweight of all time. Whether you like it or not, here's a FACT: Duran, who has the most impressive lightweight reign in history, jumped a division and legitimately beat ARGUABLY the best/greatest welterweight of all time. The ONLY man who can say they beat a PRIME version of Leonard. Those two accomplishments alone destroys Floyd's body of work. It's far more impressive than moving up, and unimpressively beating a washed up DLH.
Believe it or not, it has absolutely nothing to do with Floyd. It's all to do with Duran's fans and how they excuse every single loss he ever had and completely overrate him. It's the same with how I felt the need to keep Mosley fans in check a decade ago...that had nothing to do with Floyd either.
Agreed. I think Pryor is a more difficult fight for Duran than Chavez though. Pryor's unpredictable style, quickness, and angles would give Duran problems. But on Pryor's end, Duran is a different beast than Arguello. Much quicker than Arguello, not methodical/robotic like Arguello, and a harder target to find. Duran was also naturally bigger/stronger than Argeullo. I see Pryor-Duran being a vicious back-n-forth war until the later rounds. More and more, Duran's power and body attack would take a bigger toll on Pryor than Hawk's attack would take on Duran. I could see Aaron getting stopped circa round 13, after giving Duran Hell. As opposed to Chavez, who would go the distance with Duran, but wouldn't be as competitive as Pryor.
You make yourself sound dumb as Hell calling Duran inconsistent, considering going into the No Mas fight his record was 71-1, 14-0 in title fights. Most fighters DREAM of that type of "inconsistency".
Duran TKO 11 Prior would be in it most of the way, but Duran's counter punching on the inside would be telling. Prior would eventually collapse.
I think that pryor would outwork him for most of the fight, but he'll start gettin tagged hard in the later rounds, If he can survive, he wins a UD.
Pryor would be throwing in higher volume, but Duran would be landing the more effective and more damaging shots throughout. This is different than Arguello. Aaron would be getting hit at a higher frequency, and with cleaner counters that he doesn't see. Of course, he'd land his share of clean blows as well. Pryor was too quick and too unorthodox not to land on Duran. What it really comes down to is two things, 1. Duran had a more dependable chin and 2. Duran got hit a lot less. It's just a bad matchup for Pryor in the long run. Outta any fighter in the history of 135-140, Duran is the ONE bad matchup for Pryor.
Duran is all wrong for Pryor. Duran's skills and defense were way too refined for Pryor, who left himself so open. Duran wins an exciting fight. When the fight was supposed to happen around the 1981-82 period, it was supposed to be at 150. Pryor was offered $750k, but turned it down due to managerial issues. It's a pretty big jump to go up 10 lbs, although at least for Pryor he would be facing a guy of similar height and range. Duran had lost to Leonard in late 80 and lost to Benitez and Laing in 82', but Pryor's a different fighter stylistically. Leonard turned into a mover/dancer/taunter for the rematch, Benitez was one of the greatest defensive fighters ever, the gifted headcase Laing was also a clever defensive boxer. Pryor was none of these. His style is ideal for Duran. Duran's comeback would have earlier in this case than 1983, as he would have had a fairly high profile win over an undefeated champ here (in a non-title bout).
Duran was only inconsistent once he left 147, after he had 73 pro fights. He was the best fighter of the 70s, which obviously takes consistency. He was also 14-0 at the time in world title fights in an era with 2 major world titles, not 4+ like today's crap.
Exactly. Which makes Sly's label of him as an inconsistent fighter sound ignorant. It's the SAME thing as somebody calling Robinson inconsistent because he was hit or miss in the 50s. It's irrelevant, because he was damn near invincible in the 40s. Same with Duran, practically invincible in the 70s. When people talk "Prime" Duran, they're talking about the 70s lightweight Duran. Sly considers prime Duran to be the one who lost to Lang.
Great Duran moment: During the Vilomar Fernandez fight, Jerry Quarry is doing color commentary (he was great at it, I might add). Around the 8th or 9th round as Duran is breaking Fernandez down, the blow-by-blow guy asks: "Jerry, what's the best way to fight Duran?" Quarry responds, "With a friend." ::::::
I was watching some Pryor fights the other day and I definitely get why he was so popular but he's even more "not that good" than I remember. Lol. Duran would murder this guy. He got dropped and rocked by just about everybody he fought except that legendary night he was on pcp against a feather weight. He was the Arturo Gatti of his time, tho a little better I watched him vs Cervantes, Dujuan Johnson and some Japanese guy and it's hilarious how over rated he is. Tell someone this guy would beat Duran or Chavez or Floyd and they'll laugh their ass off after watching the first round of any of these fights.
If you wanna call him overrated, ok. But to say he "wasn't that good" is absurd. And to DARE compare him to Gatti is blasphemy. Pryor was 10 levels above that bum. Pryor beats Chavez and Floyd. He loses to Duran and Whitaker.
Chavez beats him like a drum and Floyd embarrasses him. I don't care how tough and relentless he's supposed to be, you can't throw punches with your head in the air like that. The funny thing is his rep is based on being indestructible yet he gets dropped like fucking Chevy Chase in almost every fight. His appeal was built on the fantasy that he was an inhuman punching phenom that could not be stopped but realistically he'd have got KTFO sooner or later. And would've come sooner against a quality fighter that wasn't 40 years old. Floyd would stop probably stop him and I'm sure Chavez would. He wasn't a good boxer that could also be super aggressive and take s shot. He was just a super aggressive guy that could take a shot.
Floyd matches up better with Pryor than Chavez. Floyd was really really fucking good at 140. Chavez was good at 140, but his peak weight was 135. Chavez was too slow for Pryor. Floyd, with his speed and countering ability, I can envision him beating Pryor. Not so much Chavez.
Chavez would place punches in between Pryor's consistently and bust him up. Pryor wasn't even that fast and even if he was his head was there to be hit. He just wasn't a skilled fighter, subtle skills or otherwise. He tried to hide it with volume and it worked against old men, former feather weights and nobodies but that's his whole resume. I don't care what weight or what year. Pryor wasn't on Chavez level. The only way you could watch Pryor fight and think he could beat great fighters is if you're assuming he couldn't be hurt but he got hurt in every fight.
One huge misconception is that Arguello was washed up when he fought Pryor. Going into the Pryor fight, Arguello was in his late 20s and coming off one of his finest performances in destroying Rooney in 2. He might not have been at his very prime anymore, but he still had A LOT left in the tank going into that first fight, and there's many junior welters who would lose even to that Arguello. An example is someone like Tszyu. Kostya Tszyu would get taken apart, even by that older Arguello. Pryor was an awesome fighter, and IMO too quick and dynamic for Chavez. Duran was a different beast than Chavez all together. And even Duran would know he'd been in a fight after beating Pryor. There is not ONE SINGLE FIGHTER in the history of 135-140 who beats Aaron Pryor easily. Not ONE.
Given the way Cervantes.... And Johnson... And the Jap... Dropped him like a sack of shit with straight right hands I'd say Tszyu-Pryor is an even fight. Sure he could rough Tszyu up and stop him late but he could get ktfo at anytime. I just don't get how a guy can have no defense, get dropped and hurt on the regular and still be favored to walk through all these guys that are better than anyone he's ever beaten except maybe that guy coming up four weight classes who just happened to be the one guy that couldn't drop him.
I watched some Pryor fights last weekend. I do admit he was slower than I thought, and more hittable too. That being said, when you rate a fighter you have to watch not only the fighter himself, but his opponent too. Yes, Pryor got hit and yes he wasn't 'skillful'. The question is then, why didn't he lose, even though he fought legends such as Arguello and cervantes, who were as polished as they come. Because, his unique style was so difficult to fight that even though you could hit him, he always hit you more and harder. Arturo Gatti was an action-fighter with basic skill, Pryor was an action fighter with unique style. That is one HUGE difference
I can't say what level Cervantes was at at that point but it looks like he over powered an old man. The other guys might've had some danger to them but they weren't top fighters. Arguello's power couldn't bail him out, props to Pryor, but he doesn't seem "unknockoutable" at all. And that's what he'd have to be to be as good as people make him out to be.
Pryor was more talented than he was skillful. There's a reason that no one has ever been able to exactly duplicate his style. Comparing him to Gatti is a joke. Pryor would have sent Gatti to the graveyard.
