Your thoughts on Aaron Pryor

[brownpimp88]

Lol yogi just believes the hype of how many hall of famers amrstrong beat. You do realize that the standards of making the hall of fame in the 1930's was much lower. Pryor did enough to be an all time great, he was on top for a good 5 years. Pryor is one of the greats, then again yogi bashes spinks, so why the hell would i take him seriously.

[The Surgeon]

Pryor = Bad Ass Muther ****er!

[deuce_drop]

one of my favorite fighter ever! if guys fought like pryor boxing would be the most popular sport all over the world, without a doubt.

his loss was bull**** too, coming out of retirement after a 3 year crack filled layoff, then to be elbowed, and then counted out after taking a knee, although he was hurt but leading up to him going down he was fouled a few times if i remeber correct, i haven't seen that fight in a long time, but from what i remember it was crap.

one **** up! had that not have happend pryor would've been undefeated. **** he retired an undefeated champ, to bad for the first come back fight. but he won the fights after that so he's still the man.

[The Surgeon]

one of my favorite fighter ever! if guys fought like pryor boxing would be the most popular sport all over the world, without a doubt.

his loss was bull**** too, coming out of retirement after a 3 year crack filled layoff, then to be elbowed, and then counted out after taking a knee, although he was hurt but leading up to him going down he was fouled a few times if i remeber correct, i haven't seen that fight in a long time, but from what i remember it was crap.

one **** up! had that not have happend pryor would've been undefeated. **** he retired an undefeated champ, to bad for the first come back fight. but he won the fights after that so he's still the man.

Plus he was pretty much blind in 1 eye!

[Hydro]

True, Arguello was still a very formidable opponent when Pryor stepped into the ring with him, and was even ranked very highly in the p4p rankings (along with being a 2 to 1 favourite to beat Pryor). But it's comments like these that make me think Pryor was overated; "Leonard ducked Pryor" or "Pryor was the closest thing to Henry Armstrong" or "Pryor would beat Hearns like he did in the amatuers".

First off, why on earth would Leonard be scared of Aaron Pryor, when he showed no qualms about getting into the ring with the much more dangerous and ALOT more highly regarded, Thomas Hearns? When Leonard faced Hearns, he was not only facing a fighter who showed very impressive skill and knockout POWER, but who was also thought of as the number one p4p fighter in the sport (Aug 1981 poll of boxing experts listed Hearns at the very top). Of course, Leonard suffered a detached retina in that fight (or was it in training for the Finch fight), which forced him to retire for the first time. Now, at the time Leonard retired, Pryor wasn't even thought of as much of a threat to a former featherweight (hence the odds on that fight), and that retirement was announced about a week before the first Pryor/Arguello fight (the public most wanted a Hagler/Leonard fight or at least Leonard/Hearns rematch)...Pryor called out a recently retired man after that first fight with the 'Thin Man', and before that Aaron was NOT considered one of the best fighters, nor was he financially rewarding fight for Leonard. Leonard had bigger fish to fry, as evident by his later challenge of Hagler!

Besides some style similiarities between Pryor and Henry Armstrong, where's the comparision? In his career, Henry Armstrong won at least a dozen fights against HOF'ers and won titles in three of the original eight weight divisions (of course, at the same time). And I believe he still holds the record for most title defenses in welterweight history, does he not?

Pryor? Three wins over HOF'ers and a reign at one of these JR. divisions. Like I said, even though he wasn't at his best weight, Arguello is a nice notch to have on anybody's record. But Cervantes was definately on his last legs when he entered the ring against Pryor, and in one of his last title defenses, looked very, very un-Cervantes-like against the Korean novice, who could've very well been given the decision in that fight with 'Kid Pambele'. The Cervantes that Pryor beat was a HOF'er in name only, and was no where near the fighter he was earlier in his career.

So Pryor beat Arguello, so what? So did Vilomar Fernandez, who beat a younger version of Arguello who was also closer to his prime fighting weight.

And Pryor beating Hearns as an amatuer is MEANINGLESS in discussing how they'd do against each other as pros. That fight was a 20 year-old man facing and beating a very skinny 16 or 17 year old boy. I suppose if we give that victory by Pryor weight, we should do the same with Henry Tillman's victory over a teenager by the name of Mike Tyson...Oh wait.

Listen, Aaron Pryor was a very good fighter (maybe even great), who was very exciting to watch. And his first fight with Arguello is always going to be amongst my favourite fights to watch. But an all-time great? I don't see it. Especially when I grew up watching the guy's career unfold in real time, and at that time, he wasn't nearly held in as high regard as some of the other great fighters of that era (Leonard, Hearns, Duran, Hagler etc.). But it seems revisionists wants to proclaim him on that level because he was tremendously exciting and had an all-time classic fight or two.

Good post.

[brownpimp88]

He did enough in his career, dont listen to what yogi says. I never hear yogi call an old school fighter "overrated", why not yogi, you cant diss them in any way. He's just a typical arm chair warrior that bashes modern fighters, dont listen to this guy. Besides ross and ambers, who did armstrong really beat that was a truly elite fighter? Yeah thats what i thought pal. Back then people just got into the hall of fame, if they were a title holder. Baer is a hall of famer, does that mean he is elite, **** no he isnt.

[realheavyhands]

[The Surgeon]

Seen that a few times now but its still ace! K for u! The best bit is when he gets droped and jumps back up swinging! FIGHTER!