Aaron Pryor Erases Doubt Against Alexis Arguello

Aaron Pryor did more than defeat Alexis Arguello on September 9, 1983. His 10th-round knockout at Caesars Palace removed every practical excuse surrounding their rivalry, even if it never completely settled the questions about Panama Lewis’s mysterious black bottle.

Their November 1982 meeting had been an all-time classic. Pryor stopped Arguello in the 14th round after a savage fight that The Ring later named Fight of the Decade. The result was clouded when HBO microphones caught Lewis asking for “the other bottle, the one I mixed.”

Pryor’s team claimed it contained peppermint schnapps and Perrier to settle his stomach. Arguello’s camp suspected a stimulant, but no drug tests were taken. Its protest to the WBA went nowhere. The rematch gave Arguello another chance to win a title in a fourth weight class and Pryor an opportunity to clear the stain from his greatest victory. Both carried enormous psychological pressure, yet only Pryor fought as if that pressure energized him.

One corner decision also became critical. Arguello dismissed Eddie Futch after the first loss and hired Lupe Sanchez. He later called firing Futch “the biggest mistake of my life.” Pryor changed trainers as well, bringing in Emanuel Steward only two weeks before the fight.

Steward did not try to rebuild Pryor. He directed the champion’s aggression toward stopping Arguello from establishing his measured jab and right hand. Pryor attacked from the opening bell and dropped him with a straight right only 38 seconds into the first round. That knockdown changed the terms of the rematch. Arguello could no longer settle into his preferred rhythm and gradually increase the punishment Bewerbung. He was chasing the fight almost from the opening bell against a younger, naturally stronger light welterweight.

The champion’s angles presented another difficulty. Arguello could read conventional movement and punish predictable attacks, but Pryor rushed forward from awkward positions and continued punching beyond the expected stopping point.

In the first fight, Arguello had repeatedly landed his textbook right hand. Steward’s instructions reduced those opportunities by having Pryor attack before the challenger could plant his feet and release it with full leverage. A series of hooks dropped Arguello again in the fourth. He survived and fought back through the middle rounds by attacking the body, hoping to drain Pryor’s energy. Several punches landed low, however, and referee Richard Steele deducted a point in the eighth.

That penalty damaged more than Arguello’s score. Working inside and striking the body offered his best chance to slow Pryor, but he now had to be more cautious at close range. That left him exposed to the champion’s quicker combinations.

Arguello had begun his career at featherweight and already conquered three divisions. At 140 pounds, he was facing his physical limit. His precise punching remained dangerous, but Pryor could absorb his power and return longer, faster bursts. All three judges had Pryor in front, 86-83, 87-82, and 85-83, going into the 10th. He then overwhelmed Arguello with another barrage and dropped him for the third time. Arguello remained seated with his arms around his knees as Steele counted him out at 1:48.

The victory lifted Pryor to 34-0 and completed his eighth title defense. Arguello retired briefly, while Pryor’s career was soon damaged by cocaine addiction and long periods away from boxing.

The rematch lacked the astonishing drama of their first meeting, but it gave Pryor something the Miami fight could not: a decisive victory untouched by a mysterious bottle. Arguello received his second chance, and Pryor left no doubt about which man was superior.