Aaron Pryor
vs.
Alexis Arguello
November 12, 1982
The Orange Bowl
Miami, Florida
"The evening at Miami's Orange Bowl had started in a strange manner...with the absence of a bell...down through the lack of stools for the fighters. With six inspectors assigned to cover the two dressing rooms, five fewer than the number assigned showed up, meaning that one of the two dressing rooms would always be uncovered...the inspector's absence almost took on tragic overtones in light of the pre-fight hysteria surrounding the presence of Sandinista forces in the audience who would try to "get" at expatriate Arguello. (In fact, one man with a gun was apprehended near the Arguello dressing room, with the three-time champ hurried into the shower.)
"As predicted Pryor came out blazing...By the fourth, Aaron's punches-in-bunches had produced a long, angular cut alongside Alexis' eye, and once again established his control of the fight; despite getting caught with a punch that later Arguello's personal manager Bill Miller would describe as having the force to "fell King Kong."
"Throughout the middle rounds, Alexis continued to pursue Pryor...but unfortunately for him, Aaron's center of balance, as unpredictable as the man possessing it, carried him out of harm's way everytime...
"...Pryor's footwork took on the look of a Ray Bolger with St. Vitas..."
..."Whatever, after thirteen the fight was even on Ring's scorecard, 124-124..."
"A funny thing happened on the way to the 14th round. In Aaron's corner...towards the end of the 60-second break, and after breaking yet another spirit of ammonia capsule under Pryor's nose, his trainer, Panama Lewis, abruptly grabbed the water bottle handed him by cutman Artie Curley and demanded something that sounded like, "Give me the other one...the one I mixed..."and proceeded to give the second bottle to Aaron, who swallowed it rather than spit it out."
"Pryor, known as a "finisher" par excellance, was on him in a trice, raking him with punch after punch, as Arguello's mouth fell open, his black mouthpiece giving him the eerie look of a grotesque jack o' lantern as his head rolled on his neck and his eyes sought their sockets. Twenty three punches, accentuated by three devastating rights coming one after another, prompted Referee Christodoulou to jump in..
...As Alexis slumped to the canvas...the majority of the 23,000 fans in the Orange Bowl fell silent...When, after some four minutes, he finally stirred, they did too.."
",,,What was in the bottle-(Peppermint schnapps" answered Artie Curley..."he had a late meal and he was burping when hit in the stomach."(1)
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(1) The Ring. January, 1983. Pryor-Arguello: A Title Too Far by Bert Randolph Sugar
