![\"A](\"http:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/A-Pryor.jpg\")
<\/a>interested spectator at ringside is Sugar Ray Leonard, who is providing color commentary for HBO.<\/p>\nPryor shocks the Garden crowd and HBO viewers by taking the fight to Duran from the outset. \u201cThe Hawk\u201d is cocky and his speed, swarming tactics, and volume punching give a listless Duran trouble early. Roberto clearly isn\u2019t the same guy who bullied Sugar Ray in Montreal. Pryor\u2019s confidence is soaring and, by the end of the 4th, he\u2019s clearly won every round.
\nThe pattern continues in the 5th as Pryor is outworking and outhustling Duran. However, with 30 seconds remaining in the Duran finds Pryor with a left that strays below the belt. \u201cThe Hawk\u201d bends over, grimacing in pain. Roberto is penalized by referee Stanley Christodoulou. However the message has been sent, \u201cManos de Piedra\u201d is pissed off and ready to fight. The next three rounds are tough to score. Pryor is still the busier fighter but Duran is beginning to time him. \u201cThe Hawk\u201d is throwing in volume but also missing frequently. Roberto is countering effectively and landing more cleanly, particularly with his right hand. His wicked body punching is becoming an increasing factor in the fight.<\/p>\n
The tide really turns late in the 9th round as Pryor, wading in with his chin exposed, walks into a tremendous counter right from Duran which sends him to the canvas. Pryor rises at the count of 7 shaking his head that he\u2019s not hurt. However, his legs tell a different story and \u201cThe Hawk\u201d struggles to survive the round. The Garden crowd is now raucous, yelling: \u201cCholo, Cholo\u201d. In the 10th, Pryor wisely adjusts his strategy, boxing and moving, which throws Duran off balance. By the end of the 11th, Roberto appears to be tiring, breathing deeply as returns to his corner.
\nPryor comes out for the 12th with renewed confidence and vigor. A minute into the round, he stuns Duran with a hard left hook and pursues him to the ropes. However, Roberto is playing possum and lands a three punch combination to the body, followed by a crackling left hook to the jaw that staggers Pryor. Duran administers a frightful beating to Pryor over the rest of the round. \u201cThe Hawk\u201d is in serious trouble as he comes out for the 13th. Duran stalks looking for an opportunity to close the show. With one minute remaining, he lands an overhand right which rocks Pryor again. However, Pryor refuses to yield. Both men trade furiously as Garden crowd screams in approval.<\/p>\n
One minute into round 14, a crushing Duran left hook sends an exhausted Pryor to the canvas. \u201cThe Hawk\u201d has nothing left. Roberto traps him against the ropes and lands nine unanswered punches, capped off by a quick right. Pryor goes to the canvas for the third time and final time of the evening. He beats the count but is completely out on his feet. Christodoulou steps in and stops the fight at 1:41 of the 14th round. The winner and still WBC Welterweight champion of the world, Roberto Duran!<\/p>\n
Part III: The Aftermath<\/strong><\/p>\nEven in defeat, Pryor\u2019s game and impressive performance elevates his status in the boxing world. He is now one of the most popular fighters in boxing and goes on to defeat another Latin legend, Alexis Arguello, by 14th round TKO in a spectacular November 1982 matchup. Duran goes on to lose a June 1981 rematch to Sugar Ray Leonard by a lopsided decision. He goes into a funk for the next two years before reviving his career with an impressive 8th round stoppage over WBA Junior Middleweight champion Davey Moore, in June 1983. The Duran-Pryor matchup of December 1981 goes down in the annals of boxing history as of the greatest ever, later becoming a subject of HBO\u2019s \u201cLegendary Nights\u201d documentary series.<\/p>\n
[si-contact-form form=’2′]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Dave \u201cMythical\u201d Siderski Part I: The\u00a0Scenario Boy what a matchup this would have been: \u201cThe Hawk\u201d squaring off against the \u201cHands of Stone\u201d in a battle of warriors and legends! The ideal would be to have them square off at 135 or 140. However, I can\u2019t think of a viable historical scenario for this. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[13277],"class_list":["post-54112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boxing-news","tag-roberto-duran-vs-aaron-pryor-mythical-matchups-that-could-have-happened"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54112"}],"version-history":[{"count":-2,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54112\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}