The tone was set for the fight. Pryor tried to increase the tempo, moving more, punching more, hitting Arguello with slashing combinations while Arguello stayed true to his strategy, summarized before the fight as "I don't have to hit him many times in each round, but I do have to make sure that every time I hit him it hurts", waited for counterpunching opportunities and used both his own strength and Pryor's momentum from coming forward to try to make every blow as explosive and painful as possible. In every round each fighter would have their high points, and every round became difficult to score.