aaron pryor

Aaron Pryor (born October 20, 1955) is a former boxer from Cincinnati, Ohio. He is the former world Junior Welterweight champion. Contents [hide] 1 Amateur career 2 Professional career 2.1 Bouts with Arguello 2.2 1st Retirement 2.3 2nd Retirement 2.4 Comeback 2.5 Final Retirement 3 Personal 4 Recent Activities 5 References 6 External links //

Amateur career

Pryor, nicknamed The Hawk, had a record of 204 wins and 16 losses as an amateur. He won a silver medal at the 1975 Pan American Games, and participated in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal as an alternate. In 1972 he was the National AAU Champion at 132 lb, having outpointed Robert Newton of Boston. He beat future great Thomas Hearns in the finals of the 1976 National Golden Gloves.

Professional career

Pryor turned professional on November 11, 1976, with a win over Larry Smith. In 1977, Pryor fought eight fights, winning all but two by knockout. The only two fighters who heard the final bell versus Pryor that year were Johnny Summerhayes and Jose Resto. After the fight with Summerhayes, Pryor won 26 fights in a row by knockout, in one of the longest knockout streaks in the history of boxing.

In 1978, Pryor won five fights, and in 1979 he won six. However, during 1979, Pryor experienced a rise in competition level, and in his last fight that year, he was pitted for the first time ever against a former or future world champion, when he faced former Junior Welterweight champion of the world Alfonso Fraser, Peppermint, of Panama, who lasted five rounds with The Hawk. After that fight, Pryor entered the WBA rankings.

He only kept on going up in the rankings for the first part of 1980. He beat Julio Valdez, Leonidas Asprilla and Carl Crowley before a world title bout was set up by the WBA, versus two time world champion Antonio Cervantes of Colombia at Cincinnati. Pryor was dropped in round one, but he rose and knocked out Cervantes in round four in front of a national television audience, becoming a world champion. He finished the year knocking out Gaetan Hart to retain his title.

1981 brought Pryor up to the ring against Lennox Blackmore and Dujuan Johnson. Pryor beat Blackmore in two rounds, but had to work more against Johnson, once again visiting the floor in round one before winning by knockout in six.

In 1982 he defeated fringe contender Miguel Montilla by a knockout in 12 to begin the year, then put his title on the line versus Akio Kameda. Once again, Pryor went to the floor in round one but got up to knock the Japanese challenger out in round six.

Bouts with Arguello This section has multiple issues. Please help improve the article