When “Slender Man” meets “The Hawk” twice!
Via Ken Hissner: I wanted to take a look at the careers of both Alexis “The Thin Man” Arguello and Aaron “Hawk” Pryor, which led to not only their first meeting but also a mysterious ending that remains untold today for to the rematch.
Arguello, at the age of 9, ran away from home in Nicaragua to work on a dairy farm. At the age of 13, he immigrated to Canada to help support his family. In many street fights, his sister Marina married a young boxer Alexis because of her passion for the sport and set an amateur record 58-2.
Arguello had a rough start when he turned pro in 1968, winning his first three games but then losing in a row. He then won sixteen in a row before suffering a hand injury and cutting him off for a third defeat.
Arguello will return to win twelve straight games, including three in injury time against Kid Pascualito, 81-25-19, from Paraguay, followed by Mexico’s Octavio Gomez, 45-9-5, and the former WBC Featherweight Champion, Jose of Cuba “Pocket Cassius Clay” Legra, 129-10-4, brings him into retirement.
For the second time in his career, Arguello 31-3 risked leaving Nicaragua to win his first world title, losing to WBA World Featherweight champion Ernesto Marcel, 39-4-2, in Panama City. This decision resulted in Marcel’s permanent retirement in February 1974.
Arguello, 35-4, will win four in a row and claim his second world title against Mexican WBA Featherweight champion Ruben Olivares, 78-4-1, with 70 kills, in thirteenth round at the Forum, in LA during his US debut! Olivares will eventually be inducted into IBHOF.
In Arguello’s third title defense, he traveled to Japan, knocking out Royal Kobayashi, 18-0, in five rounds. Over the next nine fights, he made a defense and then stopped arrogant Philly boxer Jerome Artis, 16-1-4, at Madison Square Garden, in New York, for two rounds in September. in 1977. Artis was one of the few amateurs to beat “Sugar” Ray Leonard.
Two fights later, Arguello rose in the weight division to claim the WBC World Super Featherweight title, stopping Alfredo Escalera of Puerto Rico, 40-7-2, for thirteen rounds in Puerto Rico. In February 1979, in Mexico, he would repeat this victory in the same thirteenth round.
A few games before his second win, Arguello lost to Vilomar Fernandez, 22-6-2, in July 1976, at MSG. It was not until February 1983 that he defeated Fernandez in a non-title match.
Arguello had impressive Super Featherweight victories over Rafael “Bazooka” Limon of Mexico, 43-8-2, Bobby “Schoolboy” Chacon, 42-4-1, Ruben Castillo, 43-0, all equal goal! In his final title defense in that weight class, he stopped Rolando “Bad Boy Dadiangas, 36-6-3 of the Philippines.
Arguello would then enter lightweight with a save by future WBC World Super Featherweight champion Cornelius “Boza” Edwards, 27-1. Then, the decisive victory went to future WBC World Lightweight champion, knockout artist Jose “El Zurdo” Luis Ramirez of Mexico, 67-2, with 57 kills.
In June 1981, Arguello arrived in Great Britain, winning the third-place world championship, defeating Scotland’s WBC world lightweight champion Jim Watt, 38-7, prompting his permanent retirement. In the previous two games, Watt defeated American Olympic Gold Medalists Howard Davis, Jr, 13-0 and Sean O’Grady, 73-1.
In Arguello’s next game and first defense in Atlantic City, New Jersey, I had the honor of meeting him the day before his title defense against Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini, 20- 0, at the brainstorming battle. As Mancini passed through the double doors with his entourage, Arguello sat there, arms crossed and legs stretched out in his weary coat, looking up at his opponent, who had said he idolized him. I was lucky enough to get an autographed painting from him.
Mancini had a game of effort before being stopped in the fourteenth round. A year later, Mancini won the WBA belt to stop South Korea’s Deuk Koo Kim, who would die four days later, leading to the final fifteen-round title fights being reduced to twelve.
I would meet the smug Mancini after he retired years later and have an argument over who was ultimately the only boxer to beat Pryor. I phoned a fellow writer who verified that I was correct in naming Bobby Joe Young.
Four stops after Mancini’s match against Arguello, 72-5, will face off in his move to fourth place with WBA World Super Lightweight champion Aaron “Hawk” Pryor.
Now let’s look at Pryor’s career. Like Arguello, he had a rough start as an amateur with a 3-3 scoreline, starting in March 1972, fighting out of Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1975, he lost in the final at the Pan Am Games to Chris Clarke of Canada by DQ in the second round for a low hit in the lightweight final. In a conversation years later, 1976 Olympic athlete Davey Armstrong, who was going to win Gold in featherweight, watched Pryor and “Sugar” Ray Leonard, who won Gold Medal in ultralightweight, race. prepare for their duel. Both felt then, Leonard had a slight advantage.
Years later, as pros, Pryor turned down $500,000 and $750,000 to fight Leonard’s desire for more money. Then agree to the amount of $750,000, but Leonard will have retinal detachment and they will never see each other.
Pryor won the National Golden Glove award in Miami, Florida in March 1976, defeating Thomas “Hit Man” Hearns. In the semifinals of the Olympic Trials, he defeated future world champion Hilmer Kenty to win the title with Howard Davis, Jr., by a score of 125-5, where www.boxrec.com showed 45 -4 of them, with Pryor’s record, are 204-16, where www.boxrec.com shows 42-7 of them.
Pryor would lose and three weeks later, in a live match, lose again to Davis. Years later, when I interviewed Davis, I recounted his meeting with Pryor (don’t remember which match the two played), telling him I thought he was lucky to have won. He was not pleased with that statement that I should have known more than said.
Pryor won his first nineteen fights after turning pro, then stopped former WBA Welterweight Champion Alfonso “Peppermint” Frazer of Panama, 42-13-3, in five rounds in Cincinnati, in October of that year. 1979.
It took almost a year in August 1980 before Pryor challenged WBA world lightweight champion Antonio “Kid Pambele” Cervantes, 63-10-1, Colombian, appearing in the first round, knocking down Cervantes in the fourth match. ring for the title, in Cincinnati. That’s how I felt when world lightweight champion Roberto “Hands of Stone” switched from that weight class to welterweight, avoided a match with Cervantes in the ultralightweight division and beat “Sugar” Ray Leonard to win. title. That’s the good Cervantes way, in my opinion.
Pryor had previously made seventeen consecutive saves and five title defenses when he met Arguello in their first meeting in November 1982 at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida. After thirteen rounds, the judges gave Pryor the lead by a split decision. Between innings is the famous black bottle. His trainer Panama Lewis said, “give me another bottle, the one I made.” It was Ring Magazine’s “Fight of the Year”.
Legendary matchmaker Don Elbaum claimed to me years later he mixed what was in that bottle but refused to tell me or anyone else I know to this day what was in it.
Artie Curley, Pryor’s throat cutter claims to have mint schnapps in it to relieve Pryor’s colic. In the 2008 documentary, Lewis revealed that he would break an antihistamine pill in half and pour it into water, giving him more lung capacity in later rounds for his boxer Luis Resto.
In June 1983, Lewis was suspended for removing padding from boxer Luis Resto’s gloves before defeating Billy Collins, Jr. Collins has been beaten enough that he will never hit again.
Pryor, 32-0, will have a defense before his rematch with Arguello stops South Korea’s Sang Hyun Kim, 42-3-3, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, sending him out of retirement permanently. Now we come to the rematch against Arguello with Pryor’s new coach Manny Steward in the corner.
In September 1983, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada, Pryor knocked out Arguello twice early in the battle. After nine rounds, Pryor led with scorecards 86-83, 85-83 and 87-82. In the 10th round, he will knock out Arguello to claim his title. Arguello, the man who always hugs Pryor after the game to congratulate him on his victory.
Arguello will win the next three bouts, including stopping former WBC lightweight world champion Billy Costello 31-1 in four rounds. In his final game, he will lose to Scott “Pink Cat” Walker, 17-3-1, by decision.
Pryor would have two more defenses after giving up his WBA belt, refusing to take on Johnny Bumphus, the No. 1 contender. In March 1985, he won a decisive victory over Philly’s Gary Hinton, 23-2- 1, for the IBF World title, beat Hinton in round fourteen and announced his retirement, or was it you?
It would be twenty-nine months when he returned to the ring in August 1987, the first and only time in his career to lose. His opponent is Bobby Joe Young, 29-6-1, of Steubenville, Ohio.
After more than a year, he’ll be back, scoring three goals against non-competitive opponents like Philly’s Darryl Jones, 13-13, in three rounds. Before the fight, he had a cataract and repaired a detached retina. He was also ordered to undergo two years of treatment for drug abuse.
The states of California, Nevada and New York would not issue a license to him after that. Then in December 1990, after beating Roger Choate 6-3 in seven rounds, he retired. By 1993, Pryor gave up his drug habit.
Pryor was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1996. His final record was 39-1 with 35 saves. He passed away in October 2016 at the age of 60.
I met Pryor years later, in all sorts of places, in a men’s room in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and he didn’t seem very sharp after “How are you,” just nodding. I understand he was once a homeless person living in Wisconsin after his career ended. He will become a Deacon in his church.
In Arguello’s case, it was reported that he took his own life on July 1, 2009, with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest. He was a politician of the Sandinista National Liberation Front and had planned to leave the group at the time of his death.
In 1992, Arguello was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. His last record was 77-8, with 62 saves. He died on July 1, 2009, at the age of 57.
Years later, at a boxing event in Atlantic City, New Jersey, one of the WBC officials told me “he was killed by the Sandinista.”
After boxing, both Arguello and Pryor became great friends, according to Pryor in an interview.