The Skills of Aaron Pryor

Dip Punching

Many of Pryor’s lead punches were able to catch his opponents flush. Aaron done this by dipping down, lowering his stance which caused his opponent to question where his true target is. When a fighter dips down, they give the impression that they may target the body. But by coming up, which makes the angle of his punch constantly rising, the opponent will struggle to know whether the stomach, chest, chin or forehead will be hit.

By dipping down and rolling his torso and head in a small circle, Pryor’s opponents were not able to spot when Pryor was indeed generating momentum for a punch. For all they know, Pryor’s dipping rolls could be him defensively ducking. But by the time, they realised that his rolls were the start of an incoming punch, it was too late.

Lead Right

                Instead of setting up his right like most fighters would, with the jab, Pryor abandoned the jab and instead threw a lone lead rear hand. As right hands come from a further distance than the lead hand, and require more physical effort (giving off more physical signals to your opponent), it is no easy task catching your opponent with lead rights. However, Pryor had a few specific techniques to aid him in remaining accurate with his lead rights:

Dipping Right – Pryor would throw the lead right out of his crouch, or after dipping down. As he rose, he would suddenly quicken the tempo as he threw a swift right hand.

Side Stepping Right – One of Aaron Pryor’s trademark moves was to bring his right foot out to the side and then push himself, and his right hand, forward into his opponent. This punch was hard for opponents to prepare for, as Pryor broke from the usual cues that indicate an incoming punch. It also allowed him to bring the right side of his body closer to his opponent, shortening the distance that his punch has to travel from.

Step Over Right – When launching one of his potent rights, Pryor would step over to his right, over his opponent’s lead foot, to get onto the outside of his opponents left shoulder. After moving to his new position, he was able to unleash more shots with little fear of being countered.

Lead Right-Left Cross

Another interesting part of Aaron’s arsenal was his lead right-left cross combination he used as a replacement of the conventional left jab-rear cross combination. Doing so helped him to surprise his opponent, as the normal expectation would be to anticipate the left hand first. The left had to be thrown at an angle across his chest, in order to shorten it up. This was because Pryor would shift forward as he threw the left hand, meaning he would walk forward into the next punch to keep his momentum under control whilst moving forward. This was done by momentarily stepping into a southpaw position (by moving his right leg in front) as he threw the left hand.

Footwork

 Angles Changes

Pryor’s use of various angles in the heat of battle was extraordinary. To consistently move into new positions is one thing, but to do so numerously in the middle of combinations so fluidly was something else. This was useful against opponents who would hold their guard high to try and stop Pryor’s onslaught. Instead of punching at their arms, Pryor would skip to the side and punch at the exposed flanks, and then drift back to centre, or continue to drift to the back of the opponent.

Pressuring

Pryor’s footwork was one of the most impressive facets of his fight game. Focused footwork contributed to the immense pressure that he applied to his opponents. If his opponent moved left, then so to would Pryor immediately. He would also cut off the escape routes by punching with the same hand closest to his opponent’s movement. For example, if Aaron had his opponent on the ropes and the opponent chose to move to their left (his right), then he would tap his opponent with his right hand, before he was able to get his feet into position in front of his opponent. The more frustrated and more mentally stressed his opponents were, the more intent on remaining in front of his opponent.

Switching

Pryor had great control over his momentum and balance in positions where many other fighters would feel extremely uncomfortable. This meant that he was able to counter from positions, which the opponent would least expect it. For example, when squaring himself up, or when he was walking backwards, he would spring back with a quick counter. There wasn’t much opponents could do to prepare for these types of surprise attacks, because it’s so rare that a fighter would do such a thing. It was almost as if Pryor was attempting to upstage the legendary Jersey Joe Walcott!

This ability allowed Pryor to punch from the southpaw stance, when he found his legs technically out of position. When walking backwards, he would suddenly leap forward with his right foot in front, punching from a southpaw position.

Feints

The extravagant nature of Pryor’s footwork also helped him to confuse opponents by keeping his true intentions for attack concealed. Pryor’s steps, jumps and skips acted as fakes for when he was actually going to step in with a punch. For example, Pryor would threaten to throw a left by stepping forward with his left leg, but wouldn’t punch. Sometimes he’d do it twice. But then he would do it do it again, but then it’d be no fake, and he would actually step in with a punch. Giving such feints to his opponents made it almost impossible to predict when he would go forward with a punch.

Combinations

                One of the most intimidating aspects of Aaron Pryor ‘s offence was his combinations. When at close range, Pryor would throw fast flurries of short punches, turning his upper body into the punches to keep his punches powerful, without needing to throw his arms at an wide arc to generate power from a swing. The range of Pryor’s arsenal included hooks and upper cuts from both hands, and from a variety of angles. By utilising different angles, Pryor’s prior set of punches usually created the opening . For example, after throwing 4 consistent quick hooks which would bring out the opponent’s guard, Pryor would then suddenly land the uppercut, catching his opponent by surprise.

Opponents under great pressure usually are likely to lash out urgently with counterpunches to get you off of them. As they say, animals trapped in corners can usually be the most deadliest, so Pryor had to be wary of counterpunches. He could prevent being counterpunched by  shifting his torso to either side, consistently taking his head off of the centre and remaining elusive.

Pryor also made good use of his lead hand, even in the middle of his chaotic combinations. Pryor extended his lead hand and pushed, controlled, or moved his opponent so that he could manoeuvre them into his next punches, and keep them occupied while doing so. So not only did opponent’s have to worry about defending the bundles of punches coming their way, but they also had to try and counter his irritating lead hand.

Finishing

Pryor ended his career with 39 wins, and scored an impressive 35 knockouts. It would be safe to say that the lightweight Pryor was a tremendous finisher. When Pryor had you hurt, you was pretty much finished. He would heavily increase the tempo of the fight, throwing combinations for literally a minute or more at a furious pace. Most importantly, most of the time he would stay calculated, throwing intelligent combinations from different angles, whilst targeting both the lower and upper levels.