Pryor-Leonard - The match that failed to happen..

[Tha Greatest]

I always wondered why Leonard didn't want to fight Pryor. There had to be a real reason. I would pick Leonard by close decision. No way Leonard beats Pryor easy.

at least ur opinion aint biased man
there could be a high chance of leonard beating Pryor but it can also be the other way around...

Anyone who thinks Leonard beats him in less than 3 rounds is ******...

[OliverNo1]

How did he TKO Hearns if he "runs" the whole fight? What about Benitez? It's called movement. You circle your oponent with footspeed so they can't get set in an offensive stance. Ali used it, so did Leonard.

Leonard was too big, srong, fast and skilled for Pryor at welterweight. Sugar Ray whould've controlled almost the entire fight to win a 15 round decision. It whould've been a great fight but one fighter whould've been clearing winning, and that fighter whould've been Leonard.

He had no option but to chase Tommy - as he was clearly behind on all the scorecards.

AND yes he ALWAYS ran - like the ***** he was.

[Tha Greatest]

He had no option but to chase Tommy - as he was clearly behind on all the scorecards.

AND yes he ALWAYS ran - like the ***** he was.

Yes, I agree...
When he fought Hearns, Hearns was hurt and that's why he was able to chase him and he was behind and had absolutely NO choice.

He will not go toe to toe with Pryor or it might end up like Duran-Leonard I

If he runs, Pryor will catch him, cuz pryor aint slow...

[Bozo_no no]

AND yes he ALWAYS ran - like the ***** he was.

Just like Ali "Ran" during his prime?

Using footwork was part of Ray's make up.

Making statements like that just make you look like an idiot.

[Tha Greatest]

Just like Ali "Ran" during his prime?

Using footwork was part of Ray's make up.

Making statements like that just make you look like an idiot.

True, when he ran it was his style and it worked real good...

The way he ran from Hagler.....that was just BULL****
He ran, he didnt throw while he was running(which Ali was GREAT at doing), he just ran from Hagler then threw a flurry to try n steal a round which was bull****...

but about his running style, that worked real well against duran etc.

[Shaolin Bushido]

I'm of the opinion Leonard would outbox and outfox Pryor.

I think, as was already mentioned, it would have been another example of a good bigger guy beating a good smaller guy.

It's suprizing to see people picking Pryor by KO.

If they fought, it would have been around the end of 1981 after Ray beat Hearns and just before Pryor beat Arguello (Ray retired shortly after that with the eye injury). At that point, Ray had walked through some serious power shots from Tommy Hearns and Roberto Duran. I just don't see Pryor knocking him out (although I'm not completely writing it off).

This is not to take anything away from Pryor, but Sugar Ray is a whole lot bigger/faster/stronger/better chinned/harder hitting than Alexis Arguello. And while Ray made the mistake of brawling (like Arguello did with Pryor) when he fought Duran, he easilly correct his approach for the rematch.

I think Ray would frustrate and outbox Pryor much like he did to Duran in their 2nd fight, with Pryor finishing the fight and losing a decesion.

Even though Ray would have been noticeably bigger I think he'd have given ground and a close fight would go to him though he may not have necessarily have deserved it. I think Pryor would have tried to maul him, done some damage, more than Leonard did to him ...

... but ultimately failed to put him away and lost a close decision. No one ever gave "The Hawk" anything and their sympathy would have gone to the more popular Leonard again.

Even though Pryor was called "The Hawk", I always viewed him more as "The Chickenhawk" like that little tough assed, tough talking chickenhawk that was always after Foghorn Leghorn. I respect his ability immensely but doubt any judges would see it his way.

He'd have to KO Leonard which isn't out of the question but I don't like the odds of that.

[OliverNo1]

Probably a fair point - i am a bit of a hater when it comes to SRL.

[gravity62]

Duran didn't have to KO Leonard, he got the decision. So there whould be no excuse for Pryor. I not bias towards Leonard, I love both fighters; I'm not biased against him either like some of you are. I just know when he's simply better than some one at a particular weight. He's simply better than Pryor at welter and whould win a clear decision after a hard fight. Aaron was a great fighter at 140, I just don't think he whould beat Leonard.

You can't knock someone out while running. So how did Leonard TKO Hearns and Benitez if he "always runs". That whould be impossible because you can't throw an effective punch while running. What he does is he circles his opponent throwing strait punches from the outside using his reach. He couldn't do that against Hearns, which he learned, because Hearns had a 4 inch reach advantage. So he used head movement to get inside Hearns' jab and threw hooks to the head and body, which was effective after about the 7th round or so untill he got the TKO.

Since Hagler had the reach advantage against him, Leonard circled him then let Hagler get close, threw quick combinations (hooks to the head and body), then quickly got out of range and circled again. He traded with Hagler on several occassions if you remember, outlanding him by about 2 to 1 by the end of the fight. He just wouldn't stay still when he fought in that style, which frustrates the fighter he's fighting against as well as people rooting for that fighter; so I understand where all the Leonard hate is coming from.

[kapersky]

noway leonard could beat pryor lesser than 3round. he took all best shoot from arguello, and those shoot could break bone but pryor didnt even feel them so i cant see how leonard could ko pryor. i predict a close ud to leonard.

[oldgringo]

Leonard is naturally bigger and better in just about every category outside of workrate. Leonard would take a fairly easy 15 round decision. Pryor would have a few nice moments and would press Ray the whole way but Leonard is just too much for him at 147.