The biggest fight of Aaron’s career took place on November 12, 1982 against Alexis Arguello at the Orange Bowl in Miami. The bout was on HBO, and at the time, we didn’t even have cable TV in our house. I had to hear about it in on late night sports reports on news radio from Philadelphia, and read about in the newspaper the next day. I personally was rooting for Alexis to win, and become the first four division champion in four different weight classes.
I saw the actual full fight years later, but did see highlights on the news over the next week or so., The action was back and forth, with Arguello’s intention to make every shot he landed on Pryor hurt. Both men felt each other’s big shots, but the fight was still in the balance headed down the stretch. After the 13th round, Pryor’s trainer Panama Lewis said to his cornerman “Give me the other bottle. The one that I mixed.” He used that bottle to feed Pryor between rounds, and he came out reenergized for the 14th round.
It turned out that there was peppermint schnapps in that bottle. Lewis threw the bottle under the ring after he gave Pryor the illegal fluids, but was never charged with anything. The reason I know for a fact that it was schnapps in the bottle, was because Aaron Pryor personally told me so. I met him at a sports memorabilia show in Newark, New Jersey in 1996 where I was selling boxing collages I made, and had a 45 minute chat with the boxing great. He told me that the mixture cooled his chest, and gave him energy to go out for the 14th round, because he was winded and wearing down. Panama Lewis was banned from boxing after a 1983 incident in which he took the stuffing out of one of his fighter’s gloves, causing a beating to Billy Collins that finished his career.
Pryor came out charging in the 14th round that night, hurt Arguello on the ropes, and knocked him out. It was a great performance by a great fighter, but it will be forever tainted in my opinion, because of the illegal actions involved by Aaron’s corner.
Alexis was gracious in defeat, but such a battle warrants a rematch, and that would take place later in the next calendar year of 1983.
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