By Robert Elmore: This is one of those fights that probably would have been great. You had the slick mobile Ray Leonard and the crude coming like a whirl wind Aaron Pryor. But as I watched Pryor public call out Leonard at a social event on Legendary Nights (Pryor-Arguello), and then watch Leonard casually brush Pryor aside, my mind began to turn.
This scenario has many twist and turns depending on which angle you view it from. Both Leonard and Pryor fans (as I have read on boxing forums) have taken their stance on who would beat who. I’m a fan of both fighters so it was kind of hard for me to nail down why the fight didn’t happen. But why didn’t it happen? From a business standpoint on Leonard’s end, he didn’t need the fight. When he came out of the Olympics, Ray was given a TV contract and commercial deal.
Fighting and beating a virtually unknown Pryor probably wouldn’t have done much for Leonard’s career. This was a high risk/low reward type fight. Leonard would go on to bigger and better things while exceeding the purses of heavyweights. For Pryor, it meant a lot more. It meant fame and fortune, and probably TV contracts.
When the fight presented itself to Pryor, he was originally offered 500,000 bucks. It was later changed to 750,000. Pryor felt that wasn’t enough money and stated in his post fight interview against Lennox Blackmore that Leonard probably stood to make 4 million for the fight. From one perspective Pryor was missing out on a grand opportunity. The money might not have been to his liking. Had he won, it would have probably catapulted him into overdrive as far as big fights and purses were concerned.
Then again, he probably would have continued to be the most avoided by other fighters. Pryor believed he was worth more than 500,000 dollars. At the same time, he could not sell tickets outside of his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio. So from that perspective, it was a setback.
The deal was later changed to 750,000 dollars. But Leonard suffered a detached retina in his fight with Roger Stafford in Buffalo New York in 1982. Six months later, he retired. Pryor’s stance on the money issue seemed to be justified. In his fight with Alexis Arguello, he made a then career purse of 1.6 million dollars. In the rematch, he made 2.25 million.
Overall, Pryor’s decision enjoyed short term success with his fight with Arguello. But the in the long run it probably cost him the big fights he desperately craved. But did Leonard offer that money knowing that it would probably turn Pryor away or believe he couldn’t beat Pryor? Did Pryor turn it down knowing he couldn’t really beat Leonard and was simply calling out the Olympian to bring attention to himself?
One blogger stated that both fighters knew their limits and that statement could go many different ways. Some fights just don’t happen and this was one of them.
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