Pryor Jr. Decisions Williams

By Boxing News - 03/22/2008 - Comments

pryor674344.jpgBy Tony Krebs: Undefeated Aaron Pryor Jr. (9-0, 6 KOs) defeated Alphonso Williams (10-4, 8 KOs) by an ugly 8-round unanimous decision on Friday night at the Mohegan Sun Casino, in Uncasville, Connecticut. Both fighters were hurt multiple times in the bout, but in the end the 6’4″ spindly-legged Pryor, the son of boxing great Aaron Pryor, pull out the decision by the scores of 79-73, 77-74 and 76-75. I personally had Pryor, 29, winning by a close decision, although he looked positively terrible, nothing like his famous father, who in his prime would have walked through a fighter in the class of Williams.

Williams, 32, was the aggressor in the first round as he attacked Pryor fiercely in the first round, battering him around the ring like a rag doll. Pryor seemed to regain his composure midway through the round and landed several good – not great – right hands to the head of Williams. However, Williams came back to stagger the skinny spider-looking Pryor, who staggered briefly and then continued fighting gamely. Pryor, all arms and legs, came charging in looking like an undersized football play and subsequently ran into a right hand from Williams. It was perhaps the most amateurish move I’ve seen in the ring for some time and shows how much Pryor still has to learn about fighting.

In the 2nd round, Pryor did a good job keeping his distance from the much shorter 5’8″ Williams, who was giving up an incredible eight inches in height to Pryor. Most of the hard punches in the round were landed by Pryor, as he pumped in a number of long right hands. The punches were particularly fast but they were thrown with excellent form for a change. Williams did little to close the distance in this round and spent much of the time on the receiving end of Pryor’s long shots.

In round four through six, Pryor build on his lead, jabbing and hitting the smaller Williams repeatedly during these rounds. Though Williams valiantly attempted to charge form to get in range, Pryor did a good job of backing up and throwing punches to keep him from narrowing the distance. Pryor didn’t look nearly as bad as he had in the first two rounds and almost passable as a future contender.

However, that brief moment in the fight ended in the 7th round when Williams hurt Pryor with a big left hand shot to the head. Williams then followed with five consecutive left hand shots that had Pryor’s head snapping back and forth like a speed bag. I half expected Pryor to go down at this point because he looked like a limp noodle being thrashed about by the stocky Williams. Near the end of the round, Williams hurt Pryor again with a powerful left hand that staggered him for the second time in the round.

In the 8th round, it was finally Pryor’s turn to put on some hurt as he stunned Williams with a left hand that hurt him badly. Pryor followed up with a couple of decent right hands and a left, but was unable to put the finishing touches on a knockdown. Part of the problem was the fact that Williams did a good job of smothering Pryor’s punches by staying close to him, thus negating his power.

The other problem for Pryor, it seems, was his lack of coordination as he seemed to have two left feet and couldn’t put more than a few punches together without stumbling around the ring, either missing by a mile or falling all over the ropes. I can’t say I was impressed with Pryor as a fighter. I don’t see him going anywhere in the sport due to his limited abilities. He’s about to turn 30, which gives him little time to improve, and believe me, he has a tom of improving to do if he wants to become a good B-level fighter some day. As it is, he’s a decent level fighter but no better than that.