BoxRec

RIP.

His first fight with Alexis Arguello is the physical equivalent of Pulp Fiction or The White Album.

What a year. Both are gone now. Sad, sad, sad.

My favourite fighter. Gutted to learn this. Leonard ducked him. Sugar Ray was nobody's fool...

Shit news. What a fighter, proper ATG.

Hawk time is over !! ,rip & god bless !

All time great & certified crazy wild man, ducked by all the lightweight champs so just moved up and took over the LW division instead.

His first fight with Arguello one of the greatest of the 80s, and that's saying something, with a first round that rivals Hagler/Hearns.

One of my favourite fighters too, RIP champ

A lot of pro boxers seem to die before their time. what a shame

FAMILY MOURNS THE DEATH OF HALL OF FAME BOXER.....We are heartbroken and sad to announce that our beloved Aaron passed away at home surrounded by his family at 5:57am Sunday, October 9, 2016 after a long battle with heart disease. He was known around the world as The Hawk but to our family he was a beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle and friend. We appreciate the outpouring of condolences and sympathy and ask that our family be allowed time to grieve and mourn his loss. Press releases are forthcoming and we will announce plans for a public memorial shortly. -Frankie Pryor

ATG R.I.P

RIP his fights with Arguello were colossal

MightyWarrior wrote:All time great & certified crazy wild man, ducked by all the lightweight champs so just moved up and took over the LW division instead.

His first fight with Arguello one of the greatest of the 80s, and that's saying something, with a first round that rivals Hagler/Hearns.

One of my favourite fighters too, RIP champ

didnt know that about lightweight.

My favourite boxer to watch the old fights of, he was irrepressible in his prime, non-stop pulsing action from the first bell, until he 'retired' after the second Arguello fight and got into some bad habits.

There are conflicting stories about why the Sugar Ray fight never came off, Leonard did commentary at the Arguello fight and that was taken as a sure sign of his interest but nothing ever materialised.

Pryor beat a young Tommy Hearns in the amateurs. Shame we never found out how he would have done against those big names at his peak. I suspect he would have done well and I know for sure it would have been worth watching.

I was late discovering Pryor because his fights never seemed to reach the UK in the 80s, but the fights upto Arguello 2 are a rewarding watch and there are plenty of them on Youtube.

Like I say he's my favourite boxer to watch old videos of. What greater tribute can I give?

Autobarn wrote:

MightyWarrior wrote:All time great & certified crazy wild man, ducked by all the lightweight champs so just moved up and took over the LW division instead.

His first fight with Arguello one of the greatest of the 80s, and that's saying something, with a first round that rivals Hagler/Hearns.

One of my favourite fighters too, RIP champ

didnt know that about lightweight.

Yeah i'm going by memory, but I'm sure Pryor was #1 contender at 135 for a year or more, but none of the top boys wanted anything to do with him.

He just missed Duran who moved up for Sugar Ray - jesus how I wanted to see him take on one of those two...

But the comparatively average fighters who picked up the vacant titles after Roberto vacated, Jim Watt, Serrano, Kenty etc and top contenders like Howard Davis ( who beat Aaron out of an Olympic spot a few years before ) wanted nothing to do with the Cincinnati hawk.

So Pryor stepped up and took out the aging legend Cervantes at 140.

Check out his slug fest with the late and fearsome punching Dujuan Johnson, where the wild man of Cincinnati decides to drop his hands for the whole round against the hardest punching 140 contender around, gets his head nearly taken off as a result, bounces up and goes to war.

Thanks for the recommendation. Sounds like my kind of fight.

I've only seen Pryor in the two great fights with Arguello (yes I really rate the rematch as well) and getting up to beat the brilliant Cervantes in four.

Will check out that Johnson fight.

BTW, I didn't think Pryor would make a great welterweight.

Another great goes to the big gym in the sky.

RIP Aaron.