Aaron Pryor vs Ray Leonard

Lets be serious here, we're talking about a welterweight king in Leonard fighting one of the best 140 pounders ever in the tenacious Pryor. At 147 I don't think Pryor has enough power to take down Leonard. SRL had that kind of blinding handspeed/power that made him dangerous at all times. Pryor wouldn't be nearly as fast or strong as Ray 147. It'd be a high octane fight for about 9 rounds give or take a round before SRL TKO'ed him. Remember, although Arguello is an all-time great and was a complete surgeon with his punches, he was fighting above his best weight...still managing to almost kill the hawk with a few of his punches(uppercut anyone). Ray would really put it on him in the later rounds. I do think that Ray wanted no part of him (its understandable, not many people did).

Pryor always made me think of a shark in a feeding frenzy when he knew he had someone hurt. I think that this is what worried Sugar. A smart fighter knew that Hearns didn't have the greatest wheels and could exploit his inability to back up as well as other things. You can't really "outsmart" a homicidal maniac too easily! :D

i think pryor takes him...and not not even breaking a sweat...ray ws good but a prime pryor was amazing..he was like mayorga but with skills like evander..the guy was great...if you didnt have the power to hurt pryor, you werent gonna stop him coming at you for 12-15 rounds no man, a prime pryor is as close as we'll get to the great "homicide hank" henry armstrong... nonstop aggression

i think pryor takes him...and not not even breaking a sweat...ray ws good but a prime pryor was amazing..he was like mayorga but with skills like evander..the guy was great...if you didnt have the power to hurt pryor, you werent gonna stop him coming at you for 12-15 rounds

I can't disagree with you there. It seems the way Ray fought in the later part of his career can be compared to DLH's style as of late. I stop reading right there.

Boxerdog.... You're being from Cincinatti means nothing here.....On a NATIONAL level, Aaron Pryor was viewed as a mere steppingstone to Arguello's historic 4th title. Do you have old copies of the Ring, KO, World Boxing, Boxing Illustrated ? 90% of those polled picked Arguello to not only beat Pryor, but to demolish him. At the time, I actually picked Pryor.....& the only writer/insider I knew of who was picking Pryor, was Steve Farhood. Ray Leonard was afraid of a 140lber who was decked by Akio Kameda & DuJuan Johnson, but not the undefeated, 6'1", KO force...that was Thomas Hearns ? I believe Arguello was a 2-1 favorite in the first fight.

This fight looks similar to Pryor-Arguello I. Pryor starts fast, Leonard tries vainly to turn the tide, Leonard ends up on the ropes tko'ed, slumps to the canvas. Leonard knew better...

Boxerdog.... You're being from Cincinatti means nothing here.....On a NATIONAL level, Aaron Pryor was viewed as a mere steppingstone to Arguello's historic 4th title. Do you have old copies of the Ring, KO, World Boxing, Boxing Illustrated ? 90% of those polled picked Arguello to not only beat Pryor, but to demolish him. At the time, I actually picked Pryor.....& the only writer/insider I knew of who was picking Pryor, was Steve Farhood. Ray Leonard was afraid of a 140lber who was decked by Akio Kameda & DuJuan Johnson, but not the undefeated, 6'1", KO force...that was Thomas Hearns ? i had no idea you were this weak on boxing knowledge.

i dont agree if anyone was shut out it was the body snatcher. pryor never moved up to 147 until late in his career so not sure how he could be shut out against fighters hes not even in the same division with.

Boxerdog.... You're being from Cincinatti means nothing here.....On a NATIONAL level, Aaron Pryor was viewed as a mere steppingstone to Arguello's historic 4th title. Do you have old copies of the Ring, KO, World Boxing, Boxing Illustrated ? 90% of those polled picked Arguello to not only beat Pryor, but to demolish him. At the time, I actually picked Pryor.....& the only writer/insider I knew of who was picking Pryor, was Steve Farhood. Ray Leonard was afraid of a 140lber who was decked by Akio Kameda & DuJuan Johnson, but not the undefeated, 6'1", KO force...that was Thomas Hearns ?

The difference is that Pryor was shut out of the top tier elite status. Think of him as an earlier version of Winky.....except ten times the finisher and an angry young brother to boot. Any of those top guys that got in with him KNEW that he wasn't going to try and merely win....he was going to try and MAIM!

you duck pryor but fight duran, hearns, benitez etc :confused: ? people were always trying to say ray was ducking someone. ray is a humble fighter , if you ask him nowawdays who won vs hearns (2nd fight) and hagler he'll say the other man won. it doesnt suprise me that hed say something like "would you wanna get in the ring with him?" . if the money was right ray would fight anyone

All news to me Jabs! Grew up in Cincinnati and trained at the same gym as the Hawk so I was a bit of a fan. I'm about three years older than him so, yeah.....I was following boxing back then. Finally....I was playing Harrah's Lake Tahoe in '88 and had drinks with S.R.L. and his bodyguard......very nice guys, both. I felt enough at ease to ask Ray why a Pryor/Leonard match had never happened. He said laughingly, "Would YOU want to fight him?? I sure didn't!" He said it with humor bur also RESPECT! That is cool to hear, I always thought of SRL as a cocky concieded type of person. This shows me that my perception was off.

There was not huge hype about that fight. That's a myth. had you been following boxing back then, you'd know what I'm saying is true. Ray Leonard was not afraid of Aaron Pryor. He just had far bigger fish to fry. Do you realize 90% of boxing people thought Pryor was a defenseless scrub, up until he beat Arguello ? Well....that was the case. Pryor positioned himself to be a worthy Leonard opponent by beating Arguello...But, Leonard quit the sport a few weeks before Pryor-Arguello....& Pryor himself began his descent into drug addiction shortly thereafter. So, what you've heard is a lot of B.S. Take it from me....I was a Pryor fan then, while despising Leonard. Had they fought.... Ray Leonard would have destroyed Aaron Pryor. All news to me Jabs! Grew up in Cincinnati and trained at the same gym as the Hawk so I was a bit of a fan. I'm about three years older than him so, yeah.....I was following boxing back then. Finally....I was playing Harrah's Lake Tahoe in '88 and had drinks with S.R.L. and his bodyguard......very nice guys, both. I felt enough at ease to ask Ray why a Pryor/Leonard match had never happened. He said laughingly, "Would YOU want to fight him?? I sure didn't!" He said it with humor but also RESPECT!

I can't disagree with you there. It seems the way Ray fought in the later part of his career can be compared to DLH's style as of late. No right or wrong answer to this post, just opinion. I just thought Ray would fight using his speed and movement against Pryor and not look for the KO.

I think it would be anybodies fight, Styles make fights. Pryor had the power and Ray had the speed. It is a boxer puncher scenario. I think ray would have won, just fighting a smart game. Would have been a great fight. One that we can only speculate. At 147....Ray Leonard's punches would have hurt Pryor worse than any Arguello punch.

I think it would be anybodies fight, Styles make fights. Pryor had the power and Ray had the speed. It is a boxer puncher scenario. I think ray would have won, just fighting a smart game. Would have been a great fight. One that we can only speculate.

You are wrng on a few points. First, 100% of boxing experts KNEW Pryor was for real after he beat the legendary Antonio Cervantes 2 years earlier! Defenseless scrub???? Pryor's OFFENSE was his defense! Second, Pryor's decent into drugs occurred 4 years after the SECOND victory over Arguello culminating with his loss to Bobby Joe Young. And Third, Leonard would have RAN...let me repeat, RANfrom Pryor the whole fight. If that is destruction......then this converstaion's beyond me. Go back & look at the predictions for Arguello-Pryor. There was outright CONTEMPT for him (not by myself) by all but a few (Steve Farhood) boxing writers/trainers. Almost everyone was predicting that Arguello would KILL Pryor. Now, imagine how a Leonard-Pryor fight would have been viewed ? Leonard did not run from Hearns...why would he run from Pryor ? Pryor was doing drugs long before his fight with Bobby Joe Young. Pryor barely defended his title after his victories over Arguello....in unimpressive fights with Nicky Furlano & Gary Hinton. His inactivity & poor showing were related to his life of partying.

You are wrng on a few points. First, 100% of boxing experts KNEW Pryor was for real after he beat the legendary Antonio Cervantes 2 years earlier! Defenseless scrub???? Pryor's OFFENSE was his defense! Second, Pryor's decent into drugs occurred 4 years after the SECOND victory over Arguello culminating with his loss to Bobby Joe Young. And Third, Leonard would have RAN...let me repeat, RANfrom Pryor the whole fight. If that is destruction......then this converstaion's beyond me.

There was huge hype about this fight back in the early 80's when they were supposed to do battle. In my opinion, Leonard wanted NOTHING to with Pryor and rightly so! Unlike Hagler and Duran, Leonard would not have been able to stay away from Pryor. Either way, the boxing world was robbed of what would have been one of the greatest fights EVER!!! There was not huge hype about that fight. That's a myth. had you been following boxing back then, you'd know what I'm saying is true. Ray Leonard was not afraid of Aaron Pryor. He just had far bigger fish to fry. Do you realize 90% of boxing people thought Pryor was a defenseless scrub, up until he beat Arguello ? Well....that was the case. Pryor positioned himself to be a worthy Leonard opponent by beating Arguello...But, Leonard quit the sport a few weeks before Pryor-Arguello....& Pryor himself began his descent into drug addiction shortly thereafter. So, what you've heard is a lot of B.S. Take it from me....I was a Pryor fan then, while despising Leonard. Had they fought.... Ray Leonard would have destroyed Aaron Pryor.