BoxRec

I'd pick Taylor by wide decision (Pryor losing too many 10-8 rounds as he'd get dropped multiple times) or Taylor to end it late.

Many osters seem to be ranking Pryor as a better fighter in threads and I think they are wrong.

Taylor was better but he was matched hard and above his weight too many times. Pryor was matched far easier though he did move up from 135.

Pryor by UD.

I went with Pryor & Id be fairly confident.

I agree with you though, Ezz, that Pryor generally gets over-estimated --- thing is, so does Taylor.

Their styles seem to be very similar. Aaron Pryor had better punching power and stamina, but Meldrick Taylor was faster and better inside fighter. Both of them were complete fighters. Their careers were too short. Too bad.

I pick Pryor by late TKO a la Arguello I

without Panama Lewis in the Pryor corner i would have to pick Taylor. Just too big too fast.

Ezzard wrote:I'd pick Taylor by wide decision (Pryor losing too many 10-8 rounds as he'd get dropped multiple times) or Taylor to end it late.

Many osters seem to be ranking Pryor as a better fighter in threads and I think they are wrong.

Taylor was better but he was matched hard and above his weight too many times. Pryor was matched far easier though he did move up from 135.

'was matched far easier'?? Not sure what you mean . . I'll take Pryor's best opponents (Cervantes, Johnson, Arguello) to be on par with the best Meldrick fought (Chavez, Norris, McGirt)

Pryor by KO

Pryor would knock him out.

Ezzard wrote:I'd pick Taylor by wide decision (Pryor losing too many 10-8 rounds as he'd get dropped multiple times) or Taylor to end it late.

That is just ridiculous.

One of these is one of the most if not THE most over rated entity boxing has ever known

And the other fella would win this fight

BoxBuzz wrote:One of these is one of the most if not THE most over rated entity boxing has ever known

And the other fella would win this fight

Both are overrated, but I'd assume Pryor is the one you're thinking. I'd agree that his greatness gets massively overrated by some, but he'd still dog the shit out of Taylor.

Im quite sure Pryor would win, but you cant tell me Taylor wouldnt be competitive.

Nobody who does that to Chavez (IMO, a better fighter than Pryor, though perhaps a little more stylistically vulnerable to Taylor) would just roll over for Pryor.

I do concur both get too much credit.

Goodnight, Irene wrote:I went with Pryor & Id be fairly confident.

I agree with you though, Ezz, that Pryor generally gets over-estimated --- thing is, so does Taylor.

It's the consensus at 140, Pryor was unbeatable.....

And guys like Loi & Locche barely get a mention.

The great Aaron Pryor was a special fighter. A complete fighter. Meldrick Taylor was a complete fighter, too. He showed it in the first Julio Cesar Chavez fight. He fought brilliantly. But he chose to go toe to toe in the last minute of that magnificent fight, and paid the price.

...buzz....once again i owe you one...

elmersalsa wrote:The great Aaron Pryor was a special fighter. A complete fighter. Meldrick Taylor was a complete fighter, too. He showed it in the first Julio Cesar Chavez fight. He fought brilliantly. But he chose to go toe to toe in the last minute of that magnificent fight, and paid the price.

elmer....I'll go along with "special".......but the rest of this? Aye yi yi yi! If you were Lucy, you'd have some esplainin' to do.

Pryor KO 10 in a wonderfully entertaining fight.

I see Pryor coming from behind, to get to the mentally fragile Taylor late.

Pryor TKO14

Mentally fragile? LOL, the things you read on message boards. Meldrick let his balls get in the way of his brains against Chavez. But there wasn't a damn thing fragile about him.

Agree with Saad there.

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:Mentally fragile? LOL, the things you read on message boards. Meldrick let his balls get in the way of his brains against Chavez. But there wasn't a damn thing fragile about him.

He bottled the biggest fight of his career! Yes he was badly hurt, and he was fighting a great, but when it came down to it, Chavez found a way to win, Taylor had the fight at his mercy and blew it.

But to be fair, that is only one fight, but from that moment on, it was down hill for Taylor, I was there the night he was destroyed by Espana, it was a sad sight. But even prior to that, he took on Norris; OK the money must of been good, but surely Taylor must of had something up his sleeve, to believe he could win?

I figured pre fight, Norris would blow him out, and that is what happened (granted not exactly a hard call D ). When the big fights came, Taylor always found a way to lose.

Taylor was an incredible athlete, with amazing handspeed, but he just was not a smart boxer, and had a mental blockage when it came to the big fights...

In general Pryor may be slightly overrated. On the BOTP forum, he is one of the most overly criticized fighters. His competition wasn't the best, but he was a great fighter. Taylor at his best would have been a great fight.

Meldrick didn't "bottle" anything, Chavez went in there and turned his insides into taco meat and Taylor's body was done by the end of that fight, he still never stopped trying to buckle Julio with all he had.

TBooze wrote:

SaadOffTheDeck wrote:Mentally fragile? LOL, the things you read on message boards. Meldrick let his balls get in the way of his brains against Chavez. But there wasn't a damn thing fragile about him.

He bottled the biggest fight of his career! Yes he was badly hurt, and he was fighting a great, but when it came down to it, Chavez found a way to win, Taylor had the fight at his mercy and blew it.

But to be fair, that is only one fight, but from that moment on, it was down hill for Taylor, I was there the night he was destroyed by Espana, it was a sad sight. But even prior to that, he took on Norris; OK the money must of been good, but surely Taylor must of had something up his sleeve, to believe he could win?

I figured pre fight, Norris would blow him out, and that is what happened (granted not exactly a hard call D ). When the big fights came, Taylor always found a way to lose.

Taylor was an incredible athlete, with amazing handspeed, but he just was not a smart boxer, and had a mental blockage when it came to the big fights...

In the biggest fight of his life he was well ahead of an all time great and then many of us think he got screwed.

As for Terry Norris, losing to a bigger, better fighter is a mental "blockage". Did Nino benvenutti mentally choke against Carlos Monzon?

C'mon man, this is ridiculous. His prime wasn't long and he liked to slug more than box. But none of that is being mentally weak. And his second biggest fight was probably beating the crap out of Buddy McGirt.

And if the fight the OP presented is 12 rounds, you just predicted the mentally fragile taylor to beat Aaron Pryor. How did you come to that conclusion?

Taylor fucken shone against McGirt. He was outstanding that night.

I think Taylor was exceptional. He should never have fought Norris. Terrible decision.