BoxRec

i heard ray leonard refused to fight pryor on a couple of occasions and my dad reckons he even moved up a division to avoid him... was leonard really that intimidated by aaron pryor? i find it hard to believe that a guy that got in the ring with hagler, hearns and duran would be intimidated by anybody? does anyone know more on this??

Not at all, that's just a myth that has grown through the years. Everybody wanted to fight Leonard, he was the biggest star in the sport. Pryor was a no name Jr Welter at the time. The biggest night of Aaron's life, Leonard was retired at ringside commentating the war with Arguello.

Nobody hates Leonard more than me, but that is nothing more than a story.

Perhaps they scared each other?

Hell no!
This is a guy that fought Hearns & Hagler & Duran twice!!!
Why the FK would he of been scared of AP? He would of beaten AP every day of the week & twice on Sunday!

Leonard was the De La Hoya of his day , fighting him would make you rich so everyone wanted to fight him.

He had nothing to gain by fighting a guy that really should have stayed at lightweight.

I have to say it does sort of make me laugh that Ray would in any way be concerned about winning a fight vs AP. "Any day of the week" sounds right to me as well. And I'm sure Ray would have taken that rather easy payday if it would have shown any promise as an investment.

..my thanks to buzz...and he knows why..

(by the way buzzy, i'm waiting for your reply to my pm re: als and head injuries..)

The End wrote:Leonard was the De La Hoya of his day, fighting him would make you rich so everyone wanted to fight him.

Except against DLH, you got to get rich and get a win!

tzyuforever wrote:

The End wrote:Leonard was the De La Hoya of his day, fighting him would make you rich so everyone wanted to fight him.

Except against DLH, you got to get rich and get a win!

I know someone else who got paid handsomely as a loser...didn't a certain chappy make his career biggest payday in his last ever fight, somewhere in the wee hours of the morning in Manchester a few years back?

Mind you, for the lumps he took, I'm glad he got a good price...& my emoticons are patented! Patented, damn it!

Easy fight for Leonard as big fights go.

Goodnight, Irene wrote:

tzyuforever wrote:

The End wrote:Leonard was the De La Hoya of his day, fighting him would make you rich so everyone wanted to fight him.

Except against DLH, you got to get rich and get a win!

I know someone else who got paid handsomely as a loser...didn't a certain chappy make his career biggest payday in his last ever fight, somewhere in the wee hours of the morning in Manchester a few years back?

Mind you, for the lumps he took, I'm glad he got a good price...& my emoticons are patented! Patented, damn it!

I have no doubt it was his biggest payday, somewhere in the £2.5 million range I think. He was paid well to let Hatton and his lapdog Parris foul him into retirement.

I think it was about $6,000,000 AUSD --- he took a licking (gave great resistance, though), but I doubt he'd ever avoid signing the fight if he had his time over again.

That's unreal money for a 140lber without a single true superstar opponent on his ledger to that point. Good luck to him. Boxing needs more men like him (& even more like Oscar).

Of course Leonard was scared of Pryor, that old guy who looks like Albert Einstein on Legendary Nights said in sparring The Hawk ate Sugar like Chris Arreola at Sunday Brunch.

Leonard actually made him an offer of $500,000, which Pryor refused. Duran later upped the offer to $750,000, which again Pryor turned down. If anyone's to blame for any of these matchups not coming off, it's Pryor. Before anyone says he deserved more, remember, this was at a time when his biggest pay day up to the point was the $50,000 he'd earned when he steam-rolled Cervantes.

Diamond WEAPON wrote:Of course Leonard was scared of Pryor, that old guy who looks like Albert Einstein on Legendary Nights said in sparring The Hawk ate Sugar like Chris Arreola at Sunday Brunch.

Like the Einstein take D

He did have one great quote, though --- "That was Aaron Pryor. He would take your best punch, spit in your eye, & then kick your ass!"

Goodnight, Irene wrote:he took a licking (gave great resistance, though)

I'm pretty sure I had it even after 8, though I haven't watched it in a year or so. It was close leading up to the final few rounds, in any event.

Goodnight, Irene wrote:

Diamond WEAPON wrote:Of course Leonard was scared of Pryor, that old guy who looks like Albert Einstein on Legendary Nights said in sparring The Hawk ate Sugar like Chris Arreola at Sunday Brunch.

Like the Einstein take D

He did have one great quote, though --- "That was Aaron Pryor. He would take your best punch, spit in your eye, & then kick your ass!"

Yeah, I liked that one too. I miss Legendary Nights. Although the Chavez-Taylor one always makes me sad, despite my being a fan of JCC. I did always get a kick out of Riddick Bowe's opinion of Andrew Golota though: "He was beating me easily, but because he's an IDIOT, he blew the fight."

Yeah, it's hard not to be impressed with Tszyu, to some extent --- even though he was a heavy favourite & lost, Hatton asked the question of him --- "It's been years since you were ina real dog-fight, can you still do it?"

Long time since Tszyu had really needed to dig deep, as he'd been coasting & whacking guys out for a long time. For a guy of thirty-six to knuckle down (not to mention the fouling, which was not insignificant) & fight almost until the end wasn't half-bad.

Goodnight, Irene wrote:Yeah, it's hard not to be impressed with Tszyu, to some extent --- even though he was a heavy favourite & lost, Hatton asked the question of him --- "It's been years since you were ina real dog-fight, can you still do it?"

Long time since Tszyu had really needed to dig deep, as he'd been coasting & whacking guys out for a long time. For a guy of thirty-six to knuckle down (not to mention the fouling, which was not insignificant) & fight almost until the end wasn't half-bad.

Tszyu wasn't in too many "wars", at least not of the fights I've seen. (I do have his career set, but haven't been through some of the early, early stuff). The knockdowns he took in the Hurtado fight were more of the flash variety, and he just flat out got caught against Phillips in a fight he was winning. The dogged effort from Hatton, combined with his lack of activity for a few years leading up to the fight, probably made early retirement pretty appealing.

Got caught against Phillips. Cool Vince give him a beating and wore him down. Hatton's style turned out to be especially bad for and aged Tszyu because he was a mauler like Phillips with more speed and vigor.

King Carlos wrote:Leonard actually made him an offer of $500,000, which Pryor refused. Duran later upped the offer to $750,000, which again Pryor turned down. If anyone's to blame for any of these matchups not coming off, it's Pryor. Before anyone says he deserved more, remember, this was at a time when his biggest pay day up to the point was the $50,000 he'd earned when he steam-rolled Cervantes.

Hi King Carlos

That's interesting info. I've never heard that before. Thanks.

Pryor also wanted Mancini to move up to fight him before Bramble changed those plans. Maybe he thought he would make more fighting Boom Boom.

Diamond WEAPON wrote:Got caught against Phillips. Cool Vince give him a beating and wore him down. Hatton's style turned out to be especially bad for and aged Tszyu because he was a mauler like Phillips with more speed and vigor.

Er, yes he did get caught, and finished. And I guess if you're idea of a "beating" is a close, hard fought fight that was still in question as to who the winner would be, then I guess that's right.

I dont think Leonard was afraid to fight him.
I dont remember any serious talk of this fight coming off.
Mike Trainer,Leonards manager/adviser probably had no interest in dealing with criminal degenerate
Panama Lewis.
That combined with Pryors out of the ring adventures such as drug abuse,being shot by his ex wife and being kidnapped,might have hurt any negotiations a bit.
At some point,any sane person trying to run an enterprise like Ray Leonard is going to say "who needs this sh1t?"when it comes to dealing with the chaos surrounding young Aaron.

tzyuforever wrote:

Diamond WEAPON wrote:Got caught against Phillips. Cool Vince give him a beating and wore him down. Hatton's style turned out to be especially bad for and aged Tszyu because he was a mauler like Phillips with more speed and vigor.

Er, yes he did get caught, and finished. And I guess if you're idea of a "beating" is a close, hard fought fight that was still in question as to who the winner would be, then I guess that's right.

I was thinking in the Chavez-Taylor sense, only minus the career-altering aftermath. I saw Phillips grow more and more effective and wear Tszyu down. Sure it was competetive, but Cool Vince didn't just land some shot out of nowhere. He could've landed that deathblow at any time give or take a couple of rounds to the same effect.