Bobby Joe Young

Bobby Joe Young, an American welterweight from Steubenville, Ohio, boxed professionally from 1980 until 1989 and finished with 31 victories, seven defeats and one draw, with 23 wins inside the distance. Standing 5ft 8in, he competed during a strong period for the division. He was once discussed alongside Milton McCrory, Donald Curry and Marlon Starling as one of the young American welterweights capable of reaching championship level. He is remembered chiefly as the only boxer to defeat Aaron Pryor in a professional contest, although his career contained rather more substance than that single result.

Born on 4 March 1959, Young developed through a demanding American amateur system with appearances in the National Golden Gloves and National AAU championships. He twice lost to Thomas Hearns in major national finals at 139lb in 1977, first in the Golden Gloves and later in the AAU tournament, having defeated Harry Arroyo in the latter competition’s semi-final. He also met Donald Curry in the quarter-finals of the 1978 National AAU championships and later competed at welterweight in the 1980 National Golden Gloves. Those opponents provide a fair indication of the standard at which Young was operating before entering the paid ranks. Hearns and Curry became outstanding world champions, while Arroyo later held the IBF lightweight title. Young did not dominate that amateur generation, but he emerged from it with considerable experience against men of exceptional ability.

His professional debut came at the Felt Forum in New York on 29 August 1980 against another debutant, Pedro Vilella. Young lost a split decision, an awkward beginning made more notable by Vilella’s subsequent career. The New Yorker later won the NABF welterweight title, defeated Marlon Starling and challenged Milton McCrory for the WBC championship. Young responded to that first defeat by winning his next 14 contests. His early programme took him through New York, Atlantic City, Pittsburgh, Ohio, West Virginia and Connecticut, and included victories over Hector Figueroa, Mike Blunt, Babilah McCarthy, Pedro Acosta and Milton Seward. He developed a reputation as a forceful right-handed puncher rather than a delicate stylist. His high stoppage percentage reflected a boxer who could finish an opponent once he had established control, although his progress was occasionally interrupted when he met quicker or more seasoned men.

Kevin Howard ended Young’s winning run on points in Philadelphia in March 1982. Howard was a capable boxer who would later become the first man officially to floor Sugar Ray Leonard, and his victory showed that Young remained vulnerable against opponents with speed and movement. Young rebuilt with six successive wins before travelling to San Remo in April 1983 to face the unbeaten Nino La Rocca. The Italian-based contender entered with a record of 46–0 and defeated Young on points before continuing towards a world-title challenge against Donald Curry. Three months later, however, Young produced one of the most revealing wins of his career against the unbeaten Darrell Chambers at Caesars in Atlantic City. Well behind on the scorecards, he dropped Chambers and forced a stoppage with sustained right-hand punching. It was an example of Young’s persistence and power rescuing a contest which had been slipping away.

His career then became uneven. Jeff Malcolm and Darryl Anthony defeated him, but Young continued to collect useful victories over men such as Ken Shannon and Felipe Montellano. In September 1986 he drew with the unbeaten Matt Farrago over ten rounds in Syracuse. He beat David Noel in Atlantic City the following May despite suffering a cut eye, then lost to Young Dick Tiger in the preliminary stage of a welterweight tournament at the Forum in Inglewood. By this point Young was no longer regarded with the same certainty as Curry, McCrory or Starling, all of whom had reached world-title level, but he remained dangerous because his right hand could change a fight suddenly. He was experienced, physically strong and willing to stay in exchanges, though his feet and defensive reactions were not always sharp enough against the division’s best movers.

That danger was demonstrated on 8 August 1987 when Young met Aaron Pryor at the Sunrise Musical Theatre in Florida. Pryor, the former junior-welterweight champion, was unbeaten in 36 professional contests but had been inactive since March 1985 and was attempting to return after serious personal difficulties. Young and trainer Tommy Parks had studied Pryor’s tendency to leave himself open to the right hand, and the preparation was evident immediately. Young dropped him with a right in the opening round, bloodied his nose in the second and continued to trouble him with the same punch. Twenty-nine seconds into the seventh, another right sent Pryor down. Pryor rose, turned away from referee Bernie Soto and then dropped back to one knee while the count continued. He remained there at ten, giving Young a seventh-round technical knockout and Pryor the only defeat of his professional career. Pryor was plainly far removed from the fighter who had twice defeated Alexis Arguello, but Young did not merely benefit from an opponent’s decline. He identified the opening, used the correct punch and dominated the contest before the unusual finish.

Young boxed only twice more. He returned to the Felt Forum in July 1988 and defeated Ali Salaam, then received his only world-title opportunity against Simon Brown at the War Memorial Auditorium in Rochester on 20 September 1989. Brown was an established and heavy-handed IBF welterweight champion who had already defended the title several times. He stopped Young in the second round of their scheduled 12-round contest. Young retired afterwards, aged 30, with no further attempt at a comeback recorded. His final ledger of 31–7–1, including 23 stoppages, was that of a genuine contender who had shared the ring with several important figures from a particularly competitive welterweight era. He never won a recognised championship, but his victories over Chambers and Pryor, together with his world-title appearance against Brown, gave his career a lasting place in the division’s history.

Young’s reputation rests inevitably upon the Pryor victory. It remains historically distinctive because no other professional opponent defeated Pryor, although the circumstances of the former champion’s decline must remain part of any balanced account. Young was nevertheless a legitimate contender rather than an anonymous beneficiary of one famous night. His standing in boxing is clear enough: a solid, hard-punching welterweight who fell short at world-title level but achieved a result that ensured his name would not be lost among the many capable contenders of the 1980s.