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Show When it's 'Hawk Time,' watch the feathers fly J FLASH CHAMP Known 5 as "The Hawk," Aaron Pryor is one of the most , exciting fighters in boxing. He is eager, tough and i unpredictable. Pryor, 27, the WBA junior jun-ior welterweight champion, J is a flashy brawler who doesn't mind leading with 5 his head to get close enough to land his punches. He will fight Reyes Cruz in a 10-round non-title bout, to be telecast by CBS j. Sports Sunday, July 24. Providing commentary are ,. Tim Ryan, Gil Clancy and ;, Sugar Ray Leonard. f "I feel that a guy has to out-think me, he's got to out-bully me, he's got to J out-box me, and he's got ;. to out-fight me, because I can do all of those things" says Pryor, who claims to jl be more than just a hard puncher. Pryor, who comes from Cincinnati, says he picked " up the nickname "Hawk" ; because he likes "to swoop ,ij down" on his foes in the ring. His backers keep shouting, "What time is J it?"; their reply is always, "Hawk Time!" Cruz, an inexperienced junior welterweight from the Dominican Republic, isn't given much of a chance against Pryor, who is tuning up for a title bout later this year against Alexis Arguel-lo. Arguel-lo. Last November, Pryor defeated Arguello in what came to be known as one of the best fights of 1982. A f v Aaron Pryor What makes Pryor so exciting is his ability to take punishment before returning return-ing even worse blows to the point of bouncing right up off the canvas to batter his surprised opponent. Understandably, not everybody has been eager to fight Pryor. "I feel there's a lot of fighters these days who intend to duck but in a very positive way, to the point where it don't look like they're ducking," said Pryor back when he was campaigning for a shot at the title. Now, as a world champion, champi-on, he is calling the shots. It took him quite a while to. earn recognition. But he is no secret anymore. One of the things Pryor promises to his fans is a different dif-ferent fight each time. He likes to claim that he can think as well as throw punches. He keeps his foes thinking, think-ing, too. |
