Aaron Pryor

Aaron Pryor’s story is one of a man who reached some of the greatest heights in the sport of boxing yet his true potential will never be known. Hard to believe for a man who was voted the greatest Junior Welterweight of the 20th century by the Associated Press and whose 1982 showdown with Alexis Arguello was voted Fight of the Decade by Ring Magazine. He was also inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1996. How many people with those sort of achievements still have people wondering what truly could have been? We’ll answer that right now, very few. Drug addiction took hold of Pryor in the mid-eighties and left the man a hollowed out shell of the once great champion. This is a man who fought many of the very best in the game during a golden age, who still holds one of the longest knockout streaks in boxing history and had the world proclaiming it was “Hawk Time”. Had drug abuse not tore apart his body while he was at his peak it’s possible a fight between him and “Sugar” Ray Leonard would have finally happened, their proposed fight in 1982 being forever put off by Leonard’s retirement. Pryor admits to breaking down in tears upon hearing the news, having to pull over on the highway while on his way to hype the fight at “Sugar” Ray’s post-fight press conference. Still it is his war with Alexis Arguello, which we’ve featured on this blog, for which he’ll forever be remembered. It is quite simply one of the greatest fights of all time. You can read our breakdown of it when you go to watch the video, which you should do right after this, but do know it will consume you and leave you wanting more. It’s a testament to the kind of fighter Pryor is and always has been that he has been able beat and move past his battle with drugs to now speak about the dangers of them. It’s just too bad the world didn’t get to see more of him performing at the highest level.