The Battle of the Champions

"For the Greek battle between Argos and Sparta see: Thyrea"

"For the 15th century Scottish clan battle see: Battle of Champions"

The Battle of the Champions, was a term used by promoter Bob Arum regarding the November 12 1982 boxing match between Aaron Pryor and Alexis Arguello.

The Fighters

Arguello had previously won three boxing titles (at Featherweight, Junior Lightweight and Lightweight) and hoped to become the first boxer ever to win world titles in four divisions by adding the Jr. Welterweight title. The broadcaster, HBO, had televised two of Arguello's previous fights. Pryor had no previous telecasts on that network, despite a record of 31 wins and no losses, with 29 knockouts.

Both fighters had radically opposing public images. Arguello was suave, sophisticated, and extremely humble about his impressive accomplishments, which garnered him great admiration from both the boxing communityand the media . Pryor, on the other hand, was fearsome, intimidating and, despite possessing great talent and having been a peer of greats Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns, was the recipient of limited media coverage.

The Fight

The fight was beset with a number of controversies and odd happenings, the first coming before the bout started, when a man with a weapon tried to gain access to Arguello's dressing room. He was stopped by members of the public, and Arguello was rushed by his handlers into a shower and shielded. The man later was arrested.

The fight began without further incident. A pattern quickly emerged, as right from the opening bell Pryor charged recklessly at Arguello with combinations, while Arguello stood still in the middle of the ring, parrying or blocking Pryor's punches while counterattacking with his trademark precise, hard, straight punches. Both fighters were hurt in the first round, and each took the opportunity to punish each other.

The tone was set for the fight. Pryor tried to increase the tempo, moving more, punching more, hitting Arguello with slashing combinations while Arguello stayed true to his strategy, summarized before the fight as "I don't have to hit him many times in each round, but I do have to make sure that every time I hit him it hurts", waited for counterpunching opportunities and used both his own strength and Pryor's momentum from coming forward to try to make every blow as explosive and painful as possible. In every round each fighter would have their high points, and every round became difficult to score.

For a time Pryor looked to be gaining control of the fight and winning a string of rounds in the middle of the fight, but Arguello came back in rounds 9 through 11, particularly in round 11 where he battered Pryor with a number very hard shots, seemingly shifting the momentum of the fight in favor of Arguello. However, controversy would now raise its head for a second time that evening.

Between rounds it was noticed that a second, thus far unused water bottle was put into use in Pryor's corner. Pryor came out with far greater energy in the 12th round, but Arguello attempted to match him blow for blow. In the 13th round Arguello hit Pryor with a tremendous punch, easily the hardest blow of the fight, but Pryor danced away and out of trouble. Once again between rounds Pryor's notorious cornerman Panama Lewis, well known for cheating and doing anything to win, could be heard requesting the second bottle, and telling an aide "No, not that one, the one I mixed", when the aide offered the water bottle that had been used throughout the rest of the fight.

As in the 12th round, Pryor once again came out with a burst of energy, and this time Arguello could not answer it. Pryor battered Arguello around the ring for the first minute of the round, until a hard combination drove a staggering Arguello to the ropes, where Pryor proceeded to land a grisly series of almost twenty unanswered punches that nearly sent Arguello out of the ring. The proud Arguello refused to go down, until Referee Stanley Christodoulou of South Africa stepped in to stop the fight, at which point Arguello collapsed to the canvas. His cornermen rushed to his side, afraid that Arguello had been seriously hurt.

The Aftermath

Both the oddities surrounding the water bottles and Pryor's response to its use were noticed after the bout, and controversy raged for months. The controversy proved to be so strong that despite the fact that Pryor was not tested for any substance abuse before or after the fight, a rematch was ordered and took place just 10 months after the first bout, and Pryor was tested before the second fight to prevent any other foul play.

The rematch however, proved unable to live up to the original, as Arguello seemed spent and as if he did not have his heart in the fight. Pryor won by a 10th round knockout, and both fighters retired following the bout. Both would later come out of retirement, both men being driven by financial problems and cocaine addictions. Both enjoyed a fair amount of success in doing so, perhaps most famously when Arguello knocked out former champion Billy Costello in four rounds. Pryor was also largely successful in his comebacks, although he would suffer the only loss of his career in one of them. Eventually, it was discovered during a medical test that Pryor had significantly lost vision in one of his eyes, and after that he was denied a boxing license.

The fight became known as the "fight of the decade" by "Ring Magazine" and one of the greatest battles of all time.

Today, Arguello has entered politics in his native Nicaragua, while Aaron Pryor has become a minister. Both Arguello and Pryor are members of the International Boxing Hall Of Fame, and the two have formed a deep friendship since their bout. Most notably, Pryor has traveled to Nicaragua to support Arguello's political career, and the two meet several times a year.

Arguello was the flag carrier for Nicaragua in the 2008 Summer Olympics.

References