I go back n forth with this matchup constantly, and its hard for me to pick being as though both were awesome in thier own ways, and I'm big fans of both. I'm leaning towards Pea though to pull out a close decision. Pryor was highly effective w/his buzzsaw attack vs stationary fighters, but I wonder how effective he'd be vs a defensive genius southpaw like Pea. Whitaker's defense, coupled with his brilliant right jab would offset Pryor's attack enough to pull out a close one IMO. Plus enough though Pea might not have hit hard enough to really hurt Pryor, he countered with enough speed and pop to make Aaron think twice about jumping him. Hell I wouldnt be surprised if Pea caught Hawk off balance and scored one or two flash KD's. Its CERTAINLY no easy task for Pea. Hawk would push him to the brink. But in the end I see his skills winning out. Not to sound like Cdogg, but I'd favor prime Whitaker over anyone in the history of 135-140, with the only possible exception being that guy from Panama.
Pryor's combination of electric (very underrated) speed and volume is an interesting proposition against Whitaker. Im sitting on the fence and adding this to the list of ten fight's I'll request when the omnipotent cyber overlord makes all things viewable.
Whitaker struggled at times with JCC's pressure...and even though he did deal with it and imo won that fight by 3 points.....Pryor's pressure was much more intense. Pea is imo the most talented defensive fighter ever though. I honestly don't know about this one, but with a gun to my head I would go with Pryor by split decision.
I'd be interested to see how well Whitaker could make his under-rated bodyattack work for him here. Pryor was a crouching fighter often, with a stop-start bob & a lot of odd angles --- though none were odder than Whitaker's. I think it'd be tough for Whitaker to effectively hit Pryor underneath, where he did a good deal more damage than people realise. Not to worry --- Whitaker was nothing if not resourceful. There are plenty of intriguing puzzles for each man to solve, but who in this weight range was ever better than Whitaker on his best night? Precious, precious few down through history (& I don't believe Duran ranks among them, thought he case can more than reasonably be made, mind), & though The Hawk submits a tremendous & at times stirring effort, it's Sweet Pea by about two rounds on my card.
