So, there it was: White-hat Arguello versus black-hat Pryor. The match's publicity was ready-made. More important, it was two great fighters meeting at the pinnacles of their careers.
And that's what made their first fight in 1982 maybe the greatest I ever saw. If it wasn't Manila, it was Miami.
That was where Pryor met Arguello, in the old stinky Orange Bowl, on Nov. 12, 1982, for Pryor's light welterweight title. The city was chosen because it was Arguello's adopted home, exiled as he was from his homeland by the Sandinista rebel occupation of Nicaragua. The crowd was all for him. Pryor again was fighting virtually for himself.
But, Arguello, the naturally lighter boxer, was attempting to step up in class and win his fourth belt. In Pryor, he met his ceiling.
As every boxing fan knows, contrasting styles always make for good fights. And you could not have found a starker contrast here – Pryor the constant aggressor flailing with roundhouse punches from every conceivable angle, often losing his balance from the sheer effort he put in them; Arguello always composed and balanced, counterpunching with the economy and efficiency of the craftsman he was.