Former junior welterweight champ Aaron Pryor passed away at his home at the age of 60 after a long battle with heart disease.
“We are heartbroken and sad to announce that our beloved Aaron passed away at home surrounded by his family at 5:57 a.m.,” Frankie Pryor, his widow, said in a statement. “He was known around the world as ‘The Hawk’ but to our family he was a beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle and friend. We appreciate the outpouring of condolences and sympathy and ask that our family be allowed time to grieve and mourn his loss. We will announce plans for a public memorial shortly.”
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Pryor was a powerful boxer with exceptional speed and skills. He was most well known for his knockout victories against Alexis Arguello, but he also took down the all-time great Thomas Hearns in the 1976 National Golden Gloves finals.
He was born in Cincinnati in 1955 and fought most of his matches in his hometown. But the mid 1980s he had already reached an astounding 24-0 record. That’s when he got his shot at Hall of Famer Antonio Cervantes. Pryor won that fight too.
Pryor struggled with drug addiction in the coming years, as well as some health issues like a detached retina and cataracts, and retired in 1990. He was later inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1996 and voted the No. 1 junior welterweight of the 20th century by the Associated Press in 1999.
After his boxing career ended, Pryor seemed to get clean, using his experiences to teach kids about the dangers of drugs.
He will missed by his surviving wife Frankie, his sons Aaron Jr. and Antwan Harris and his daughter Elizabeth.
[ H/T ESPN ]
