Aaron Pryor vs Bobby Joe Young

Bobby Joe Young brought Aaron Pryor’s unbeaten record and attempted comeback to an abrupt end at the Sunrise Musical Theatre in Sunrise, Florida, on August 8, 1987. Young stopped the former junior-welterweight champion 29 seconds into the seventh round of a scheduled ten-round welterweight contest. Pryor weighed 148 pounds, and Young weighed 146 pounds. Referee Bernie Soto completed the count while Pryor remained on one knee, bringing an unusual finish to a contest which Young had controlled from the opening round.

Pryor entered with 36 victories and no defeats, but the figures concealed the uncertainty surrounding him. He had not fought since outpointing Gary Hinton in March 1985 and had been absent for nearly two and a half years. His championship years had included two victories over Alexis Arguello and a reputation for maintaining a pace few opponents could withstand, yet his career had subsequently been disrupted by cocaine dependency. Now 31, he was returning at welterweight rather than the 140-pound division in which he had done his best work. Young, 28 and naturally the larger man, had won 29 of 36 professional contests and had once been regarded as a leading American welterweight prospect.

There was disorder even before the opening bell. Young’s trainer, Tommy Parks, exchanged words with Pryor near the ring after commenting upon the former champion’s condition. Pryor pushed Parks, who struck back, and officials separated them. Pryor later complained that the incident had disturbed his concentration. Whatever effect it had, his difficulties once the contest began were technical and physical. His body lacked its former definition, his balance was uncertain, and his timing was plainly affected by the long absence.

Young had studied Pryor’s habit of leaving himself open to the right hand and tested that opening immediately. In the first round he drove a right into Pryor’s head and sent him on to the seat of his trunks. Pryor rose at five and smiled, but the knockdown was not an isolated accident. Young remained composed, used the jab to occupy him and continued bringing the right over the top. Pryor attempted to answer with the quick attacks which had once overwhelmed champions, but the punches no longer arrived in the same smooth succession. He lunged, fell out of position and was forced to reset before he could continue.

Young bloodied Pryor’s nose in the second round and repeatedly disturbed him with further right hands. The former champion still advanced and occasionally landed his own right, but he was unable to maintain pressure or drive Young backwards for sustained periods. Pryor’s reputation did not overawe Young. He held his ground when necessary, moved when Pryor rushed and punched through the openings created by the older man’s poor balance. The contest lacked the furious continuity associated with Pryor at his peak. Instead of dictating the pace, he was reacting to Young and absorbing the cleaner blows.

The same pattern continued through the middle rounds. Pryor remained willing and attempted to force exchanges, but Young’s greater size and steadier positioning enabled him to control them. Pryor’s best punches were occasional quick rights, yet they did not discourage Young or noticeably alter the direction of the bout. Young later recalled that he could feel Pryor’s blows without being placed in serious difficulty. His confidence increased as Pryor’s movements became more ragged, and the right hand remained the decisive weapon whenever the former champion crossed the distance without proper protection.

Young ended matters almost immediately in the seventh. He came out and delivered a relaxed right hand to the side of Pryor’s head. The punch did not appear to have been thrown with unusual effort, but it landed cleanly and left Pryor badly confused. He staggered backwards and fell, then rose quickly while Soto began the count. Pryor turned his back upon the referee and appeared unaware of the official’s position or of the count being administered. He then dropped to one knee and made the sign of the cross. Soto resumed counting and reached ten with Pryor still kneeling. The official time was 29 seconds.

Pryor’s promoter, Walter Alvarez, said afterwards that the fighter had been dazed and mistakenly believed he had more time. Pryor’s camp also protested that ammonia capsules may have been used in Young’s corner, but although a capsule was reportedly found near the ringside, no official had seen it used. The protest could not alter what had occurred in the ring. Young had scored two knockdowns, repeatedly landed the right hand he had trained for, and beaten Pryor throughout the contest.

The defeat was Pryor’s first and remained the only loss of his professional career. He returned to win three undistinguished contests between 1988 and 1990, but the fighter who had overwhelmed Antonio Cervantes and twice defeated Arguello was not restored. Young’s victory became the defining result of his career. He later challenged Simon Brown for the IBF welterweight title, losing in two rounds, and retired with a record of 31 victories and seven defeats. At Sunrise, however, he had prepared intelligently, refused to be intimidated and defeated a celebrated former champion whose reputation remained formidable but whose fighting condition no longer matched it.

I remember waiting for this fight to see if the Aaron Pryor we knew from the Antonio Cervantes and Alexis Arguello fights was still there. Pryor had been a relentless, brilliantly conditioned pressure fighter. Against Bobby Joe Young, after nearly two and a half years out and a serious drug problem, the timing, balance and physical sharpness had gone. He looked like a man trying to remember his old rhythm rather than one still possessing it.

Young deserves full credit because he ignored the reputation and attacked the obvious weakness. His camp had spotted that Pryor could be reached by the right hand, and he dropped him with it in the opening round. From there, Young controlled the fight, bloodied Pryor’s nose and repeatedly caught him coming forward without the old head movement or stable base.

The seventh-round finish was strange, but not unjust. Another right hurt Pryor; he rose confused, turned away from referee Bernie Soto and then dropped back to one knee as the count reached ten. He may have misjudged the count, but he had been beaten before that moment. Young was younger, steadier and better prepared.

For me, this was not a great champion being exposed. It was a damaged former champion returning when he should never have been near a serious welterweight contest. Pryor’s first defeat told us far more about what had happened outside the ring than anything Young uncovered inside it.