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Two great fighters, one of them went down in history. Regular job, bad ending. And the argument. That and much more is what fight fans got 40 years ago today when Aaron Pryor and Alexis Arguello fought their epic 140 pound fight.
Fighting in Miami, at The Orange Bowl, Pryor of Cincinnati, and Arguello of Nicaragua put it all on the line in the courage to be great. For many fans, what followed was the war of the 1980s; which of course says a lot when we know we’ve had great fights like Hagler-Hearns, Leonard-Hearns, Leonard-Hagler and more throughout the decade.
The 27-year-old Pryor, a complete buzz-saw of a fighter with energy to burn, an engine that can drive him relentlessly, is undefeated at 31-0 and is making the sixth defense of the WBA and Magazine Ring light-welterweight. title. Pryor was hungry (see hungry) for the kind of superstar Arguello enjoyed.
Arguello, three years older, is 72-5 and has reigned supreme in the featherweight, super-featherweight and heavyweight divisions. Against Pryor, Arguello is trying to make history, by becoming the first boxer to win world titles in four different weight divisions.
Pryor, a tough, hard-working fighter, and Arguello, a respectable (in and out of the ring), smooth worker, worked one of the greatest fights in history. Both men came out firing on all cylinders, giving us an opening round that was right up there with the Hagler-Hearns split one round (which is, at this point, still about two and a half years old). Pryor, setting the path for Hagler in his main fight, was met by Arguello, who stopped to exchange shots with the defending champion. The tone was set – all guns blazing and both fighters eager to duke it out.
The rounds seem to be rolling in and Pryor, with his quick hands, is snagging a few of them. But Arguello, with his great punching power, is always dangerous. In short, no one can dare to take their eyes off the work for even a second. Both men showed impressive growth, especially Pryor. Eventually, inevitably, with his punches coming out of nowhere, Pryor finally began to show fatigue, to slow down.
Punched in the face, “The Hawk” is having the hardest fight of his career. But then Arguello was. The Champions League was special. Arguello landed a head shot on Pryor in the 13th round, which the champion caught. Then came the aforementioned controversy.
Between rounds 13 and 14, Pryor, apparently tired, was given a drink from a “black bottle.” Pryor’s trainer, Panama Lewis, was heard in the corner asking for a specific bottle – “no, not that one, the one I put together.” What was inside the bottle no one will ever say, but this much is known: Pryor roared for 14 rounds with fire and fury. Pryor was brutal in his latest attack, the champion beating a nearly exhausted Arguello around the ring. Then, with Arguello stuck on the ropes, Pryor unleashed hell, this in the form of about 20 unanswered strikes.
Arguello refused to fall but was in a bad mood. Eventually, as the third man dived to stop the fight, Arguello fell to the mat, taking a beating. It ended up being a bad fight. It’s a shame the controversy surrounding this fight threatens to ruin it a bit. In the eyes of others, Pryor’s remarkable success with IS was marred by allegations of fraud on the part of his trainer (also, Pryor did not undergo post-fight drug testing; the fighters and his team described how no one came up with and asked for a urine sample).
The game had to be played again and it did. This time, 10 months later, Pryor stopped Arguello in the tenth round. During this time, Panama Lewis was suspended from boxing for removing the gloves of one of his fighters, Luis Resto; this in the Billy Collins fight of June, 1983. For Arguello’s return, Emanuel Steward killed Pryor.
Pryor proved once again that he was too much for Arguello, with or without Panama Lewis in his corner. However, the controversy refused to go away. But all these years later, and fight fans everywhere celebrate the classic fight that took place forty years ago. Some things are indestructible, no matter what.
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