This is the next in my blog series ‘Mythical Matchups’. The bout is between Sugar Ray Leonard and Aaron Pryor. My imaginary bouts all take place at Caesar’s Palace Outdoor Arena in Las Vegas, with the great Mills Lane as the referee.
Sugar Ray Leonard was born on May 17, 1956 in Wilmington, North Carolina. His family moved to Washington D.C., when he was three, and to Palmer Park, Maryland when he was ten. Ray began boxing at age 13, and had a tremendously successful amateur career that culminated with him winning the gold medal at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal. He planned to retire from boxing after that, but his sick parents forced a change of plans, and he turned professional on February 5, 1977 with a 6 round decision over Luis ‘The Bull’ Vega. After steadily moving up the rankings, he won his first world title on November 30, 1979 by defeating the great Wilfred Benitez via a 15th round TKO. Leonard would lose to Roberto Duran in June of 1980, but defeat the Panamanian in their rematch on November 25, 1980. After Ray unified the welterweight belts with a 14th round TKO of Tommy Hearns in September of 1981, he would require detached retina surgery the following May, and retire from boxing. After just one fight in five years, he came back to shock the world, and beat Marvin Hagler to win the middleweight crown on April 6, 1987.
Leonard fought the remainder of his career at middleweight and super-middleweight, but his fight with Pryor in my match would be at the welterweight limit of 147 pounds.
Aaron Pryor was born on October 20, 1955 in Cincinnati, Ohio. ‘The Hawk’ had an outstanding amateur career record of 204-16 before turning pro on November 11, 1976 with a second-round KO of Larry Smith. Pryor beat everyone in his path before meeting Antonio Cervantes on August 2, 1980 in Cincinnati, and stopped the champion in four rounds. He would defend the WBA title successfully until his retirement in 1985. The two biggest wins of his career were over Alexis Arguello in November of 1982, and September of 1983. Aaron retired with a record of 39-1, with 35 knockouts, and is one of the best junior welterweights in boxing history.
Sugar Ray Leonard’s strengths as a fighter were his speed, and his combination punching . He also had excellent power, was always in perfect shape, and was a great finisher if he had an opponent hurt.
Aaron Pryor possessed a lot of the same skills as Leonard, which would have made a fight between the two legendary.
It’s my blog and my opinion, and I give a slight edge to Ray Leonard. I think he had a strength advantage, and was too clever to let Pryor outwork him. In a close, exciting 12 round fight, Leonard by unanimous decision.
If you disagree with me, it’s fine and makes this fun for me. Both boxers are in the IBHOF in Canastota, New York, and deservedly so. Unfortunately, Aaron Pryor died on October 9, 2016 of heart disease at just 60 years old. Boxing doesn’t produce greats like Leonard and Pryor anymore, and today’s generation doesn’t know what they’re missing.
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