Aaron Pryor vs. Alexis Argüello | Ring Talk with Lou Eisen | Talkin Fight

This week Lous discusses the November 12th, 1982 fight between junior-welterweight world champion Aaron Pryor and the immortal Alexis Arguello.

Aaron Pryor vs. Alexis Argüello, billed as The Battle of the Champions, was a term used by promoter Bob Arum regarding the light welterweight boxing super match between Aaron Pryor and Alexis Argüello on November 12, 1982.

Discussing the greatest boxing controversies throughout history, Lou Eisen offers his opinions and insights in this fantastic live-streamed series of episodes. Watch live on TalkinFight.com every Sunday at 2pm ET.

@People & History @HISTORY @History Boxing Channel @History of Boxing EN @The World of Boxing! @Boxing Legends TV @Boxing Legends @Internet Historian @The Ring Magazine @Golden Boy Boxing @DAZN Boxing @Top Rank Boxing @FOTA – Fight Of The Ages

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Transcribed:

Foreign [ Music, ] boxing writer historian Lou Eisen, and this is Rim talk and today we’re going to discuss the incredible fight that took place November 12th at the Orange Bowl Miami 1982 between the WBA.

I believe it was world uh, Junior, Welterweight, Champion Aaron Pryor voted by many people, the greatest Junior weltery champion of all time, certainly of the 20th century.

I would agree, and one of my all-time favorite Fighters – El Flacco explosivo, the incredible Alexis Arguello who’s coming up and wait.

He held titles at featherweight, uh, super feather and lightweight, and this was supposed to be his fourth world title um at the time that they fought.

Aguayo was a bit past.

His Prime and he’d started boxing in the late 60s and um Aguero had an amateur record.

You know he got into boxing because of his sister Marina.

He wasn’t really into it.

He was born in Managua in Nicaragua, April 19 1952 and his sister Marina.

He had six siblings, seven siblings, his sister married a boxer and that’s how we got interested in.

He got him into amateur boxing where he had a record of 58-2 and he moved to Toronto, Canada when he was 13.

.

I don’t know how many people could do that and he moved here and worked as a laborer to raise money uh as a daily laborer.

Um for his family in Nicaragua, because what you got paid there, you know to work a whole day would be just five cents.

If that here you got paid in dollars and he couldn’t believe it, and so he lived here for a short time, um his first world title challenge – I was in the early 70s and it was against the WBA World anyway Champion Ernesto Ernesto Marcel, who was from Panama and Aguero was still very young in the sport but well trained and he got in the ring there and he did his best but uh.

He lost a unanimous decision and he kept fighting and fighting and he moved from Banner weight 118 up to featherweight, which was probably a better weight for him.

He was uh five foot ten.

So you know this is a big guy with a 72 inch reach, and so you know this this he was a hard guy to beat in the ring, but he needed space to punch.

He had to get his room to punch so in 74 he November 23rd.

At The Forum in Inglewood, California challenge went off of not my all-time favorite fighter, the Rockabye rockabyte Ruben oliveiras from Mexico, and – and he was a tremendous knockout, puncher and oliveirus uh came into the fight and was out boxing him.

He was known as a pure Slugger.

He was up boxing arguale of all people and then in the 13th round, um they uh are aloe.

Vera threw a a left hook and it caught our whale on the chin.

Arguello weathered it through his own counter, left hook and knocked oliverus out, and then he became the Undisputed world wva world featherweight uh champ.

His first defense was against the Venezuelan guy named Liana Hernandez, who he annihilated in eight rounds.

Um.

His first fight in his home home country of Nicaragua, was rigoberto riasco we destroyed in two rounds, and then he fought the elite level Royal Kobayashi from Japan.

Who was a very good fighter and gave Argo trouble for around and a half the narcoil destroyed him in five rounds? Man Aguayo could just man could he fight and uh.

As I said, he was born April 19, 1952 and he died on July, 1st 2009 and there’s still a lot of um controversy.

Over this, it was said to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the heart, but uh many boxing, historians, writers and Friends of Alexis believed that he was murdered on the orders of Nicaraguan dictator, Daniel Ortega because he was going to leave the Sandinista party.

He was mayor of Managua and he didn’t like the way that they were running the country.

He’D fought with the sandinistas in the beginning, fought against them.

Sandinisa stole his home, his money, everything in Nicaragua, so he was forced to move to Florida.

Aaron Pryor was born on October 20th, 1955 in Cincinnati.

I just missed Arguello at the hall of fame.

I just saw him walking away in a seersucker suit and I was talking to George traval.

He said he was just here.

Where is he he’s on his way home he’s been here for a couple days? Can you catch him? No he’s gone, and I just saw literally saw him and then he was walking got into a limo and left and I just thought I waited my whole life to meet him.

I wanted to meet him so bad because he was one of my heroes.

He was such a magnificent fighter and he did everything well.

Aaron Pryor, as I said, was born October 20th, 1955 in Cincinnati Ohio, and he was the son of Isaiah Graves and Sarah shellery.

He was born out of wedlock, so he never really knew who his real father was, and he never got credit for anything that he did when he was young anytime.

He did anything well, never got credit from his family from school from from anyone and he was given the surname prior by his mother, but it was unclear when he was given the surname and why he was given that surname uh.

He needed an outlet.

He was an Angry Young Man always getting into trouble, so he started boxing at the age of 13 and like our Quail, they both grew up in abject poverty.

I mean these were, as as George farmer would say they weren’t poor.

They were po, they couldn’t afford the extra o and R they were po and unfortunately, uh prior who went through tumultuous life had a severe cocaine addiction, but he beat it.

He beat it with the help of Arguello, who came literally picked him up out of the gutter and got him clean uh.

He died October 9, 2016 of complications from heart disease, and it was sad because it overcome such a crippling addiction to cocaine.

I was working at the time which I’d still like to do uh on the documentary about his classic fight with uh Nikki filano, which you won in 15 rounds by unanimous decision here at Varsity arena in Toronto and the interesting thing about that fight.

It was right after the second Arguello fight, so uh prior was a two-time super lightweight world champion.

He held the WBA title from 80 to 83 and the ibf title from 84 to 85.

He also held the Ring magazine title from 18 from 1980 to 1983 and he was recognized as the linear champions from 83 to 86.

uh.

He was inducted into the international Boxing Hall of Fame in 1996 and Arguello was inducted into an international Boxing Hall of Fame.

In 1992 and 1999 prior was voted by the Associated Press as the world’s best like welterweight of the 20th century, which I alluded to before, and I don’t think anyone can argue that uh he was ranked by Ring magazine in 2002 was the 35th greatest fighter of All time now, when you look at their comparative records, uh Pryor’s record was 3901 with 35 Knockouts.

He didn’t have more fights because he had trouble getting fights in the beginning of his career.

People wouldn’t fight him.

No one wanted to fight him in the in the amateurs he beat Thomas Hearns and he wanted to fight Ray Leonard.

He went to a Ray Leonard press conference and said I’ll fight you for whatever I’ll take the short end.

I’Ve beaten everyone at 140.

I’ll come up and fight you wherever you get the money.

Just let me do it and it never came off um.

So 39-1 was his record um, whereas aguero’s record uh, you know, was 77 wins.

Eight losses, 62 wins by knockout.

He was a ferocious puncher and he knocked at the best fighters uh on the planet um.

He was a three Division World Champion Alexis Arguello.

This was a fight that um the fans favorite Aguayo, because it was in Miami and there were a lot of EX nicaraguans there.

Egnam um, not ex nicaraguans, they were still in nicaraguans, but they weren’t living in Nicaragua, anymore uh.

They had emigrated to United States to get away from the sanities to government.

The way many Cubans came to Florida to get away from uh, so uh Aguero, you know after he won the uh featherweight title and after he defended it four times he moved up to to the junior lightweight Division, and I remember watching his fights with the Puerto Rican Alfredo escalera and they were fought with Plato, raids, gloves.

These were a lot of blood.

A lot of Gore, both guys are bleeding like stuck pigs, because the leather on the cleito’s raid gloves is really pulled tight.

So it’s more of a puncher’s glove.

It has an impact and because it’s pulled tight, it’s easier to cut a fighter with those gloves and that first battle was known as the bloody Battle of Bayamon.

It was held in Puerto Rico, and Argo is interesting, knocked him out in 13 Rounds and then the rematch a while later also stopped him in 13 Rounds.

And I remember, I believe it was Gil Clancy who was in the corner of the great Alfredo escalera and arguero, then defended his title.

Look at this list.

I mean this is a list of future Champions, except for one guy.

He defended his title against Bobby Chacon.

The Schoolboy bazooka Raphael, bazooka, Leman, Rolando nov, navarretti, Cornelius, bolusa, Edwards and Jose Luis Ramirez, all future world champions, and he also beat the ultra tough Reuben Castillo.

I mean these.

He didn’t take easy fights.

He fought the best out there, you’re number one I’ll fight you and he would just demolish these guys.

He was brilliant in the ring he he he exhibited, probably as much as Joe Lewis, the one quality that’s almost impossible for most fighters to master and that’s patience.

He had a lot of patience.

He had that Long Reach.

He needed the room to punch, he would hit you with the jab.

You know, he’d come Under and Over hit your right hand to the body right hand to the Head left, uppercut and boy.

If you threw that punch out – and you missed, he was going to counter you with the right hand and that left hook of his to the body crippled a lot of Fighters.

So he defends the junior way.

Junior welterweight um that sorry uh prior was the junior World 3 Champion.

He defends the lightweight title, Junior lightweight title four times and then he moves up and wait and you know he moves up to lightweight and actually I have to correct myself and bit all over the place here.

Uh he defended the uh title, Junior lightweight uh eight times, then he fights Jim watt.

Another fight that was great went to distance in England and he beats watt uh to win the WBC World lightweight title and he became only then six boxer to win World Boxing titles in three different weight divisions and only the second Latino to do it.

Besides.

The great Wilfredo Benitez, who accomplished it a month later when he knocked out Brett, Maurice hope, uh after that uh he was challenged by the up-and-coming and media darling, gray, Mancini, and it was an interesting fight.

Mancini had his moments, but arguya was too experienced too big too good and he finally knocked out Mancini in the 14th round.

But after, if you remember the fight, he grabs him by the head.

Anything I can do to help you, the the relationship you have with your father touches my heart.

I want you to know Ray, I love you and I will do anything I can to help you and he did.

He would go to his training camp and help train Ray.

So arguella was as honest as they came.

He was really heartfelt.

He he really enjoyed people.

He liked people.

He was.

He was prone to suffer from bouts periodic bouts of extremely deep depression, and sometimes he would do drugs.

You know to try to counter that, but he was able to beat that eventually.

Also, you can imagine how difficult it is he’s fighting in his you know, in the United States and around the world, and the sandinistas are going are turning his country upside down, killing his friends taking his house taking his money, all his belongings and now he’s got No money he’s got nothing, so he has to relocate to Florida and he’s got to start all over again and the best way to do that.

He thought was uh.

He defended his lightweight title four times in a row successfully.

Obviously, and then he thought I’m gon na fight, Aaron, Pryor and arguella was to favor coming into the fight.

He was a veteran, he was the bigger man.

He was the harder puncher.

Pryor was a great fighter.

Pryor was mistakenly looked on, looked upon as just a slugger, but he was so much more than a slugger.

He was a smart guy.

Now we get to a very interesting part here: uh they’re Trainers for this fight arguail would learn from certain trainers and move on.

So he had the great Eddie fudge when the top several trainers had ever lived.

Um Pryor had a man that I considered to be vile, evil criminal person, uh, Panama, Lewis, Panama Lewis, is the one who a couple fights later took the padding out of Luis resto’s gloves when he fought as a huge Underdog against Billy Collins and ended up beating Collins and then blinding him and Collins later died in a car accident with some people or motorcycle accident.

What some people thought was a suicide.

He didn’t hesitate to cheat to help his Fighters – Panama, Lewis, so uh Lewis, during the fight with Arguello.

I think after it was after the eighth round and after the 13th round and when he say give me the water bottle and someone another guy would hand it to him for prior he’d, say not that one, the one I mixed before the fight.

So he said in the bottle was antihistamine and peppermint schnapps to help prior with uh asthma.

Probably didn’t have asthma, he said he, then he said he used it to help expand his lung capacity, you’re not allowed to you’re only allowed to use water.

So that means said he had mint leaves and water a lot of people thought thought it was uh, honey, orange juice and cocaine.

Now I spoke to him prior to Hall of Fame uh when he was with his son, and I said, was there cocaine and he nodded to me that there was.

He never said yes, but it looked to me as if he was saying yeah.

There was in the Bible, but who knows we know there was a stimulant there, but the, but the incompetent and ignorant Miami boxing commission, with all these newbies on the commission, didn’t run a urine test after the fight know your analysis, no blood test, no, nothing so, And they never got to the bottle and Pryor hung out for an hour and a half.

Neither man had a urine test and the commission failed in that there was supposed to be 13 Commissioners working the fight.

There were six, seven just didn’t show up, you know and the one that was supposed to be in front of Aaron Pryor’s room, they said, get lost and he got lost.

You know he didn’t stand up and say sorry, I’m with the commission.

You can’t dismiss me so this is what made the fight controversial.

It was billed uh as the Battle of Champions um.

It was a great fight and I just wanted to fight earlier today, but I’ve watched it many times and when you watch the fight uh you know prior is dominating the fight.

He comes right out at the beginning.

I would usually run at you at the beginning and he didn’t do that.

He came out and he boxed he boxed arguero smartly, but he knew he had to keep close to hard boil, because if Argo could get distance on him he could use those long arms and take him apart.

Arguello always had trouble with guys that could stick and move and box and Pryor who was smaller, was sticking and moving.

He was moving around, he was circling our Quail.

He was turning him and he was throwing tremendous volume of punches and he was Landing a lot.

Narguello was taking them and there were times in the first four five six rounds where he hit Arguello and Arguello was hurt but managed to hang on and weather.

The storm Arguello slowly made his way back into the fight in the middle rounds by using that vicious left hook to the liver of his and he kept pounding uh prior to the liver and to the body, and it got warned a couple times by the referee.

This was another controversy.

South Africa’s Stanley, Chris didul, was a great great graph, but before the fight, Pryor’s team objected to him because he was South African and because of apartheid in South Africa, which Chris didulu opposed, and so when they asked Aaron Pryor.

What he thought of Stanley Chris didulu on camera, he said I have no clue who that even is so Pryor said: I’m not going to object to the referee, that’s stupid and he told his team to calm down uh Chris didula did a great he’s, a Hall Of Fame rap, he did a great job of roughing, the fight our guilds, climbing back into the fight, but Pryor’s taking these phenomenal shots.

You people with you know it’s only a five pound uh difference between 135 lightweight and 140 Junior Welter or super lightly and he’s hitting prior shots that dropped a lot of other Fighters and dropped other Junior welt weights after this fight.

So it’s hard to believe prior to take this, but prior was a tough guy.

He don’t even drop by Cervantes before we won the title in four rounds against him and Arguello was hitting with tremendous left uppercuts right, uppercuts straight right hands and you could see in the eighth round tenth round.

He lands.

You know straight right hand.

It almost takes Pryor’s head off and Pryor Just Smiles and keeps fighting back and Arguello uh.

You know goes back to his Corner after and he after each round arguya looked really dejected and depressed going back to his corner and he’s saying that he Flex man can this guy hit.

You know I mean he can hit, but he can also really take a punch.

I mean I can’t believe the shots, I’m landing on him and he’s I’m not moving him and fox just kept saying to him.

Every round you got ta, let your hands go Alexis.

You got to be busy or you got ta stop.

You know you got to get that distance and keep letting your hands go.

Arguella would allow prior to get in on him and crowd him and Arguello could fight on the inside, but he was much better on the outside, where he could utilize his reach and get more leverage on the shot so you’re looking at prior and and uh he.

It’S just the amount the amount of shots Prior took and through in this fight.

I’Ve never seen him do it in any fight before or any flight after Pryor was known to get you against the ropes and he would let his hands go and he would let his hands go for as long as it took and guys either slumped into the Canvas or the referee stopped it, but usually they slumped to the canvas this time.

Arguelles fighting back furiously and I was watching the fight on closed circuit at Varsity Arena here in Toronto, with a good friend of mine and in the 13th round uh Arguello season opening and throws a straight right hand.

I mean I thought he decapitated prior.

He hit him and hit prior and Pryor’s head turns around.

You know and goes up and pride.

Just looked at him smiled and kept punching, and my friend said to me: you know it’s something’s wrong here, because you can’t hit a man that hard and still have him on both feet.

I mean Pryor took that shot like he was tapped with the feather and after the 13th round.

He goes to the corner and it’s the first time as Barry Tompkins the play-by-play Blow by blow.

Announcer said the prior was visibly tired and that’s when Panama Lewis said give me the bottle that I mixed and then prior comes out I’ll refresh for the next round and they’re fighting, and you know our guales laying it on and then prior catches them on.

The inside two three four five hooks: he hurts our stun and he he he’s moved back.

He moves back to the fire ropes and you know like Tyson, did against Holly field and then prior just unloads on them.

And finally, I mean our whales like this.

His hands go down and it gets hit a couple more times down and Chris to do stops the fight and uh Aguayo sinks to the canvas where they stretch his legs out and when the camera’s on him he’s unconscious.

For a good while so there are quite a few doctors there, he was concussed.

He was taken out of the ring when he came to.

He was crying he apologized to a sign which his son said was just you don’t have to apologize to me.

You’Re a champion dad I mean you did your best, but it was a tremendous fight, but Panama, Lewis, prior’s trainer.

I have no doubt in my mind that there was a stimulant after talking to Aaron Pryor at the international Boxing Hall of Fame and knowing what I know about Panama, Lewis and hearing it from other trainers that there was a stimulant of some sort in one of The water bottles given to Aaron Pryor that either helped his lungs be able to take in more more air, gave him greater lung capacity or enhanced his ability to take a punch and fight back.

I don’t know if cocaine could do that and and but it’s certainly people on it are certainly hyped up, but he walked back to the corner after the 13th round taking tremendous shots exhausted and then he came back for the 14th round like it was the first Round of the fight and to me something seemed off because he was so hyper after that fight, whereas you would think he’d be tired and exhausted.

I understand you have the adrenaline after victory over an all-time great, but he just didn’t seem to Tire throughout the fight and Panama, Lewis was known well known within the boxing Community to cheat in every way, shape and form give his boxes an edge.

So it sort of taints prior’s Victory now sugary Leonard, who I have all the respect in the world, for it said it doesn’t really matter what was in the bottle because he didn’t need it prior been denied, and it was true uh glory for so long and Was never given his due and had to fight his Pro debut for 400, while Ray Leonard had to fight his Pro debut for five.

You know for 50 Grand he fought uh that there was no way he was going to.

Let Argo beat him and the thing was because it was in Miami his Corner said to Prior.

If it goes the distance, it doesn’t matter if you knock him down 10 times.

This is Miami heavy, Nicaraguan uh, uh population.

Here you will lose on points and some of the judges had Argo head on points.

It was possible that he could still lose he’s titled on points and Pryor didn’t want to.

Let it go to that part of Pryor’s.

Bitterness came from the fact that he he fought in the Olympic trials he lost.

He thought he didn’t lose to Howard Davis, twice and Howard Davis goes to the Olympic games to win to Gold Medal and their empire thought that’s my gold medal.

I should have won that, and that gives that would have given me the the credit and the street cred to turn pro the pro cred and make more money.

Instead, he fought for nothing in Cincinnati, fought for for next to nothing for a lot of his early fights and it really put a chip on his shoulders.

So when he got a chance to fight Cervantes for the world title, he wasn’t going to let that go and then when he got a chance at our guile, this with to him was his legacy.

This was win or die.

He was willing to die uh in that ring now with the water bottle controversy, people say you know, and a year later they wanted to look into it.

It it blew up into a big thing and then it stopped and went away.

Why? Because, right after that fight, Ray Mancini fought, duck, poop came in Vegas and definitely Kim died, and now more people are concerned with Banning boxing than they were without actually happened in the prior arguail fight, which was a vicious fight to begin with, and so Aguayo didn’t Want to go out that way he didn’t want to go out.

He didn’t want people to remember him as the guy lying on his back, so they had a rematch and unfortunately in in um in the rematch uh he thought prior again and he had blamed his previous loss and that he, which wasn’t really fair.

But he said, arguya was an emotional sensitive guy.

You know.

If you were talking to him, he could talk about a fighter.

He liked and start crying because he loved the guy.

So much so arguella was very sensitive if he needed someone to assuage his ego and give him uh.

I guess affection during the fight and a pep talk rather than saying you know what just do this just do that just do this, and most trainers would assume that the boxers are self-startered.

If you’re this far, you know you don’t really need me to do that, but our coil didn’t people to do that.

There wasn’t really anything: a new trainer was going to teach him, but he goes into this fight.

The rematch of Aaron, Pryor and prior is even better than he was the first time.

Arguello.

Is that much slower he’s going through a bad time in his marriage, which eventually got divorced and he’s giving it his all, but he just doesn’t have it this night and Pryor is paying off um and unfortunately, uh Pryor stops him in 10 Rounds, after which Arguello Announces his retirement people are happy that he announced his retirement because they don’t want to see him get hurt.

You know he’s such a beloved Figure World figure in the sport of boxing, but because the Sandy needs to stole everything from him.

He’S now broke so he has to go back and play and he goes back.

He makes it come back.

Several years later he fights the former Junior Welterweight Champion uh Billy Costello, which was an interesting fight in CBS.

The fight was delayed because Costello’s uh trainer Victor Valley, who also trained um Jerry Cooney, tried to get under arguello’s skin, and that was hard to do.

I mean Pryor tried to do it, uh in a lot of ways and other Fighters had.

But agroyo was such a pro.

He didn’t bother him, but they said he deliberately used illegal hand wraps and Aguero was physically angry.

He said I’ve been in this Ford for 25 years.

I would never injure another man intentionally, that’s not the idea of the sport, so we had to take his gloves off, unwrap it and then have it wrapped again and then anger him, and so he fights Billy Costello in Upstate, New York and Costello is beating him.

These young berries quicker and then Arguello faint, some you know, hits him with the laugh.

Faint to write to the Bobby Costello’s hand goes down and then bang right to that chin and Costello’s out and referee starts to fight and then when they come in and pick him up he’s screaming at Victor Valley, our Grail is now.

How are the rats now? How are the wraps now and on camera after he said, I would never do that, I’m known as an honest fighter.

No one’s ever accused me of cheating in any way she performed.

How dare he do that and he was Furious.

He fought on some more and uh, he lost uh, I think one of his last fights and then he decided to retire uh.

He he um is recognized today, as one of the top several greatest fighters ever to have lived.

The dream fight would have been him versus Duran, although I think Duran is just too big and strong for our Guild yeah.

He went to the Hall of Fame International Hall of Fame in 1992 and in 2008 he was selected as Nicaragua’s, flag bearer, which is a beautiful sight to see at the Beijing Olympics.

He also became really good friends with Alfredo escalera and Aaron Pryor.

He was very close with them and when Pryor was having problems with drugs, arcoyo literally found them in an alley like or in a gutter and grabbed him and said, I’m not going to.

Let you go out like this and saved him uh when he, when he left he would still do commentary, but he also he joined um, Nicaraguan politics via the Sandinista National Liberation Front, and this was the same part of being opposed earlier and fought against um.

He was elected the vice mayor of Managua, but people said sandinistas for some reason wanted to discredit him and said there was vote rigging, so he ran again in 2008 and he won, but he won by a slight like one percent of the vote against uh.

Another candidate for the Liberal Party, who had just lost to the dictator, Daniel Ortega in the presidential election uh the sad thing about Arguello was, we don’t know we do and we don’t.

We died on July, 1st 2009 and if you remember that I just come home from the international boxing whole thing and I’d seen Fern Forest there.

That was a terrible um uh July, where, where Aguayo died, Vernon Forest died was murdered and then Arturo Gotti was murdered.

In Brazil, so you had three Fighters that were murdered.

Now the Nicaraguan the Managua police said that he shot himself through the heart.

Not very many people believe it.

The autopsy said: um National Police said that the death afterwards from gunshot was confirmed by the autopsy and that they ruled it of suicide.

But he was on the verge of leaving the Sandinista party and he wanted to go and tell people.

You know that these guys were close.

This was a dictator, Daniel Ortega, and this would have been embarrassing to have their most famous citizen.

Do this and it stopped by a lot of people today that he was shut up, that the angle and trajectory of the shot was simply not um.

In line with a self-inflicted gunshot one, we don’t know they weren’t allowed any other outside autopsies.

It’S just that one gruesome picture of him uh lying on them lying in the morn uh.

We do know that he did have tremendous periods of depression, but it’s we simply.

Don’T know it was Gone Too Soon he was a lovable man.

He was just such a wonderful person and Aaron Pryor.

He didn’t die too long ago, and that was sad too because he died on on October 9th 216.

Complications from heart disease Briar was only 60.

and he had overcome this cocaine habit, and you know he was blind to one eye.

I used to see him at the hall of fame all the time all the time with his young son Aaron Pryor Jr.

He loved his children and his grandchildren and it broke my heart when he died.

He would always say to me, because I said I was from Toronto how’s Nikki doing because he fought Nikki filano and it doesn’t hurt a lot of people like when I spoke to Nikki.

He said I love there.

We were friends, I didn’t have anything against him.

Why would I dislike him? He gave me a shot at the world title, and so you know these two guys who had their own problems became friends.

You know Nikki had his own problem with drugs, but him and Aaron connected and that’s the way it is most of these guys know each other uh from from the amateurs so uh, I’m just trying to calculate in my own mind with uh Arguello, who was born Uh when he was born and how old he was uh when he passed away but um you’re gon na have to give me a second here to get the requisite information on that so uh yeah.

He was born in 52.

, so 48.

He was 56 uh or 57 and when he died – and you know that’s too young – I’m 61.

57 is not a whole life.

Alexis deserved to see his grandkids and to live a longer life in this order box.

He needs people like that.

This is one thing.

Angela Dundee always said to me: people, you know uh, there’s great people like like John Stacy, the former welterweight champ who’s great in boxing and a great businessman, but a real Ambassador for the sport and that’s what Alexis sarcoyo was.

He was an ambassador for the sport.

What surprised me about Aaron Pryor when I met him and spent time with him at the Boxing Hall of Fame? It’S how soft-spoken he was.

He was a genuine person and he would you know he would say how’s.

He, I would say, have a daughter, how’s your daughter doing and somebody would say: we’ve got to go somewhere and I go okay.

I got ta go and he put his hand on my hand.

No, you can take me fine, how’s, your daughter fine.

Is she doing? Well, yeah in school great make sure she stays in school and treat her.

Well, that’s your biggest job! That’S your only job! You know, and it should be your own job, so you know, for I have a world champion to talk to him on that one-on-one basis.

Someone that I looked up to and really admired like Aaron Pryor, was just a thrill of a lifetime and fight fans.

I always say this like the fact that the two became friends afterwards they were friends before and Aaron Pryor said I knew I was never going to be able to intimidate Alexis and they never said a bad word about each other.

During the press conference press conferences, they had for their fights uh, they became good friends after our Goya was the kind of guy when he saw her in Prior after he dabbed his face, and he kissed him and hug him and tell him how much you love Them and how can you not love a guy like that? You know and he did the same thing with vascular.

It’S the same brand found out that his former adversary Esteban days was dying of HIV.

He went down to see him and he hugged him and he kissed him and they said to him.

You can’t do that.

He’S got HIV and and Duran said oh shut and shut up with that BS.

You can’t get it this way, just by hugging, a friend.

So there’s a lot of real there’s a real connection between the fighters, because it’s entertainment but they’re both trying to make money for their families.

So I know I’m getting off the topic.

This was a great fight.

Arguello was leading at the time that he was knocked out in the 14th.

According to some of the scorecards uh he may have walked away with the victory, which would have been.

I think incorrect because great to see you too scrapbook boxing, I was wondering if you saw this fight um, it would have been great.

You know for him to win, but when I’ve watched the fight several times I mean I scored it for for prior, I gave rounds to Eric whale, but prior was the effective aggressor throughout most of the fight.

So I would have to say that, in spite of the knockout um you’re in the second row of that fight – wow – that’s incredible! You – and I was just talking before about the punch scrapbook about the punch that he landed in the 13th round when he bounced Pryor’s head back and prior looked up at the lights, and I was sitting with a friend of mine who worked here in Toronto at Tsn, which was the sports network like ESPN in the United States, and he looked at me and he said, I’m scared because that punch would have dropped the charging rhino and it didn’t even budge.

Prior.

This head just came back down and smiled and he kept on fighting.

So that was an all-time great fight and, as I said, scrapbook um, the Aguero has already passed as Prime you know, but because he lost all his money to the sandinistas he had to keep fighting these people and same in the second fight.

He landed a couple really tremendous shots on prior and in the first fight there was an uppercut.

He landed a couple rounds before and I thought he’s decapitated him.

I thought Pryor’s finished, but he took it prior was hurt several times, but because these are professional fighters, Elite level, professional fighters are the best in the world of what they do in their weight class.

They can get hit.

They don’t show you that they’re hurt and they can grab on and and they can hang on until the cobweb’s clear.

It was just a case in the end of the younger prior wanting to achieve his legacy because he thought if it goes to a decision, even if I win, they won’t give it to me because they always screw me.

So I have to stop them and that’s the one thing we have to remember that his Corner told him whether you include this controversy of the water bottle to not whether he took performance enhancing, stimulants or not he’s he was not going to be denied.

He wanted to make his legacy and to make his legacy.

He needed one of the greatest Fighters that ever lived Alexis Arguello to fight him, because a lot of other great Fighters wouldn’t fight Aaron Pryor.

They wanted no piece of him and because Pryor was so magnificent.

Yes, I can imagine the sound that made um when uh when he hit him and scrapbook is saying his first leg.

Fight was Arguello versus Oliveira’s 1974, which, as I mentioned earlier, won that fight with uh uh a left hook that dropped Oliveira.

It’S one of my favorite Fighters and uh oliveiros was a great fighter.

All these guys are our all-time great fights.

You know they had at the hall of fame one year they had Mexican greats Oliveira’s Carlos Zarate, and there were three others, and I can’t remember him at the moment, but they were all there at The Rusty Nail on the Hall of Fame, and I did quick Calculations – I looked at my phone, I I went to Google and I said between these Five Guys.

They have over 500 Knockouts to the credit and not of bombs, of you’re.

Looking at their list of Knockouts, it’s all top 10 top five greatest Fighters, just generations of Fighters, these guys steam world.

So I want to thank scrapbook – and I want to thank Dusty too, for uh for watching this um yeah.

It was an incredible fight.

I can’t believe scrapbook you were at this fight.

I watched it closed circuit.

I watched both the fights and I remember watching Arguello when his first fought Ernesto Marcel and he didn’t win that fight.

And I was disappointed because I like this kid and then watching the Oliveira’s fight and that disappointed me, because I loved Oliveira’s he’s still one of my favorite people in fighters of all time.

Aguero is widely considered not only one of the greatest lighterweight fighters ever, but also one of the kindest most gentle most considerate.

Most well-loved athletes ever to have lived Pryor had this mean nasty image of a badass.

But when you met him in person, he was really a big teddy bear and he was always happy to talk always happy to listen and he was just a great guy.

These are two phenomenal Fighters.

If you get a chance, please, if you get a chance, go to YouTube, it’s a lot of great videos of them and you can watch their fight watch both their fights.

The second one, I don’t think is ADS good, but I was sitting there watching in a closed circuit.

Thinking, come on, Alexis, get him and prior could take a good shot as well as anyone.

Unfortunately, after this fight priors after the second fight prior’s life went into tubes because it was cocaine addiction.

He managed to beat it and fight a couple more times, but because he lost years to his career because it was cocaine, addiction.

His record was only 39 and one, it’s too bad that he wasn’t given a chance to move up and fight in the welterweight division, because Aaron Pryor didn’t scare worth a damn.

He would have fought a welterweight.

He would have got super Welter or middle.

He wasn’t physically a big man, but as Angela Dundee would say, it’s not the size of the fight size of a dog in the fight.

It’S the size of the fight and the dog, and no one had more fight in him than the Hall of Famer Aaron.

Pryor, that’s the story of the first Aaron Pryor, Alexis, sarguello fight and um scrapbook.

We’Ll talk another time.

You said you met them all.

These are wonderful people.

I have had more great conversations with prize Fighters and fight fans than I have with anyone else simple.

As that uh thank you for watching I’m Lou Eisen.

This has been ring talk and we’ll see you next week at our regular time on Sunday.

Thank you enjoy the rest of your week.