Is Aaron Pryor overrated?

[JAB5239]

- - U quacking don't make U a Duck. Nor do it make U understand managerial contractual disputes that killed that fight.

To many Mickey Finns for U this AM is it again?

I understand Pryor didn't take the fight, yet went on to fight for less money. Is any of that not factual?

[champion4ever]

It's more like he has been forgotten. His name is hardly ever mentioned in these boxing conversations and discussions.

[Ben Bolt]

I rarely see people who turn to professional boxing for a living as overrated. There are definitely easier paths to choose in life.
I watched this TV documentary about a Romanian untalented boxer, who traveled around Europe and fought as hard as he could,
but got beaten up everywhere he went. The reason was that it was his only way to get money to support his children.
He is a HOF to me.

[JAB5239]

I rarely see people who turn to professional boxing for a living as overrated. There are definitely easier paths to choose in life.
I watched this TV documentary about a Romanian untalented boxer, who traveled around Europe and fought as hard as he could,
but got beaten up everywhere he went. The reason was that it was his only way to get money to support his children.
He is a HOF to me.

Pryor was obviously a great fighter. But is the greatness overstated?

[Ben Bolt]

Pryor was obviously a great fighter. But is the greatness overstated?

I was a Pryor fan. So not for me to tell, I'm biased.

[Ben Bolt]

Talking about Aaron, in an article in The Guardian,
his wife Frankie Pryor talks about the awareness of CTE, or rather the lack of it.
She wants the condition to be highlighted more. An extract of the article:

Frankie Pryor fills my Zoom screen with warmth and humour – and a little anger at boxing’s failure to discuss the damage it did to her husband and most fighters. “I took care of everything,” she says of her 30 years with Aaron. “I didn’t understand the damage was caused solely by boxing until he started showing anger. Aaron was so easy-going until then. I started taking him to a neurologist around 1994. At that point we didn’t know [it was CTE]. Initially it was just front temporal lobe damage but he never stopped going to a neurologist until he died. A neurologist said: ‘This is the only Hall of Fame fighter I’ll ever work with and we need more proof to confirm what we believe.’”

Was there sufficient proof Pryor had been brain-damaged by boxing? “Oh yes. You see that damage in every old fighter – without exception. I noticed all the fighters acting the same when we got together. His wife would go to the restroom and that fighter would get confused. One of us other wives would handle the situation. We educated ourselves about CTE because it’s not something you talk about to your regular girlfriends. We had this group – me, Brenda Spinks, Marvin Hagler’s wife Kay, Ken Norton’s wife, Rose.”

Frankie Pryor also mentions Muhammad Ali:
“The one fighter who could have brought lots of attention to this was Ali. [But] Ali’s family chose to say, ‘Oh, he has Parkinson’s, it has nothing to do with boxing.’ It has everything to do with boxing.”

[billeau2]

It's more like he has been forgotten. His name is hardly ever mentioned in these boxing conversations and discussions.

That tends to happen to a lot of excellent fighters. Mike McCallum is another one... Put on the proverbial "fix it" pile until a smart feller at the local boxing discussion states "and what about the Body Snatcher?" to which, seemingly on cue some lad asks "who dat?" and walla! And of course Gerald McClellan, another truly tough guy, cut short, an amazing talent... These were men who truly did leave it all in the ring. Gerald may have drunk a bit, been a bit wild, but he loved to fight... And when in the ring, he was a beast!

Pryor, McClellan as well, were in a sense, everything Adrien Broner aspired to be... Street savy, tough, able and scary... the real deal.

[billeau2]

I rarely see people who turn to professional boxing for a living as overrated. There are definitely easier paths to choose in life.
I watched this TV documentary about a Romanian untalented boxer, who traveled around Europe and fought as hard as he could,
but got beaten up everywhere he went. The reason was that it was his only way to get money to support his children.
He is a HOF to me.

Ben,
That is a great attitude, I hear you. People can usually connect more to such a fighter... the man with a ploughman's packed, working his tail off day in day out, truly grok the plight of those who may not have exceptional talent, but swing the bat as hard as they can.

[Biledriver]

I don't so much think Pryor is overrated as I think his entire resume is tainted by blatant cheating. His career is one big asterisk.

[billeau2]

I don't so much think Pryor is overrated as I think his entire resume is tainted by blatant cheating. His career is one big asterisk.

There was nuthin' in that "bottle" cept ole grand dad and coke!