How did Aaron Pryor not fight Duran or Leonard?

[$Bullsfam$]

It's like Trinidad vs Mosley. 2 of the best fighters of the 2000's that both fought at welterweight and never fought. But flashback to the 80's I always see Pryor vs Arguello as one of the greatest fights that always gets mentioned. Yet it was in the 80's during the fab 4 Leonard, Duran, Hearns, and Hagler.

I know he was a junior welterweight but it just seems a fight like this could have easily been made. Why didn't they happen?

[Steak]

Leonard offered a fight to Pryor, but Pryor turned it down. He mentions it at the end of his fight with Blackmoore I believe.

I think Duran just skipped JWW entirely other than fighting some non title bouts there.

[$Bullsfam$]

Leonard offered a fight to Pryor, but Pryor turned it down. He mentions it at the end of his fight with Blackmoore I believe.

I think Duran just skipped JWW entirely other than fighting some non title bouts there.

For real? I goggle'd it and heard a lotta stories about Leonard dodging Pryor. I've read people who were pissed off because Leonard has all the skills to beat but wouldn't do it.

I don't know what really happened it just stuns me that these 3 were some of the best fighters in the 80's around the same weight and they never fought.

[NChristo]

For real? I goggle'd it and heard a lotta stories about Leonard dodging Pryor. I've read people who were pissed off because Leonard has all the skills to beat but wouldn't do it.

Like Steak said, in the post fight interview of the Blackmoore fight he explains that Leonard offered him a fight but Pryor wanted more money for it, was probably better for his career that he didn't seeing as he went onto 2 huge paydays against Arguello plus I can't see him beating Leonard.

[Steak]

For real? I goggle'd it and heard a lotta stories about Leonard dodging Pryor. I've read people who were pissed off because Leonard has all the skills to beat but wouldn't do it.

I don't know what really happened it just stuns me that these 3 were some of the best fighters in the 80's around the same weight and they never fought.

thats one of the more reoccuring myths that gets circulated, mostly because of that HBO Legendary Nights episode.

check out the post fight interview. I think he mentions it, but my internet is crapping out and wont load the video.

on a side note, I typed in "aar onpryor blackmore" in youtube, and it said results for: "hot girl rubbing guys dick". lol, what?

[bojangles1987]

I'm pretty sure Duran just skipped over 140. If not, he didn't fight any important fights there. It mostly had to do I'm sure with Pryor not wanting to leave 140. If he was offered a fight with Leonard it would have been at 147 I'm sure, maybe he didn't want to leave 140.

[Scott9945]

I'm pretty sure Duran just skipped over 140. If not, he didn't fight any important fights there. It mostly had to do I'm sure with Pryor not wanting to leave 140. If he was offered a fight with Leonard it would have been at 147 I'm sure, maybe he didn't want to leave 140.

Duran had some transition fights in between 135-147 (I'm going off memory rather than boxrec), but his goal was always to win the welterweight title. He had no interest in fighting for the 140 lb title, which meant a lot less then than it does now.

[Thread Stealer]

Duran was already fighting at 147, and beat Leonard, before Pryor held a title at 140.

Later on, Duran-Pryor fight was proposed at a catchweight of 150, (the weight is according to the Duran biography).


http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vau...6084/index.htm

Smith, meanwhile, was working on a $250,000 fight against Saoul Mamby, then the WBC junior welterweight champ, to unify the title. But Theresa got to Pryor first and shot him in the midst of a quarrel. The bullet, a .22, went through his right forearm, grazed his chest and wound up in his coat pocket. Later, Theresa said she had shot him because she loved him, and they later reconciled. Pryor told LaRosa that the incident was LaRosa's fault, because he tried to mediate their domestic problems.

By now Wells Fargo had caught up with Smith, and the Mamby fight was canceled. The next thing LaRosa heard, while watching the television news, was that Pryor had fired him. Pryor had also replaced his attorney of the moment.

"Aaron, what are you doing?" LaRosa asked. "I've got a contract for you to fight Roberto Duran for $750,000."


"No, I don't want to fight him. My new attorney told me not to sign anything until you and I work out a new contract." So much for the firing of LaRosa.

By the time they worked out a new agreement, the chance to fight Duran—and the $750,000 payday—was gone. The new contract covered six years; LaRosa's share was cut to one-third and he no longer had any ancillary rights. Expenses were to come off the top.

"The ink wasn't even dry on the damn contract," says LaRosa, "when I found out Aaron had signed a one-year promotional contract with Don King, who was going to give him a $100,000 bonus. Then King sent me the contract to sign. I told Aaron it was a mistake, but if that was what he wanted, then I'd sign.

"Aaron said, 'But King is going to get me a Duran fight, a Mamby fight, because he's got Duran and Mamby.'

" 'Aaron,' I said, 'we had a Duran fight, but you didn't want it.' "

[$Bullsfam$]

Does anybody if that fight he turned down with Leonard was before or after this film?

[Wild Blue Yonda]

Sure as Hell, Pryor wanted no part whatsoever of Duran.

Leonard was a different story.