Pryor Arrested on Drug Charges, Held in Cincinnati on $10,000 Bond

Former junior-welterweight champion Aaron Pryor, whose problems with drugs have had him in trouble with the law and thwarted comebacks, was back in jail Thursday, arrested on charges of drug abuse and aggravated drug trafficking.

Pryor, 35, was arrested at an apartment building shortly after midnight EST, and was arraigned in municipal court and held on $10,000 bond, Frank Weikel, spokesman for the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department, said.

Pryor had about five pieces of crack cocaine, worth about $50 apiece, “packaged similar to that used for sale purposes,” according to police reports.

Pryor was the World Boxing Assn. junior-welterweight champion from 1980-83. He also won the International Boxing Federation’s junior-welterweight championship in 1984.

Since he retired in 1985, Pryor has had drug-related problems. He once acknowledged he spent nearly $500,000 on cocaine. He was ordered last April to undergo two years of drug treatment and rehabilitation after Cincinnati police found a metal pipe used for smoking cocaine in his car.

He has been banned from fighting in Nevada, New York, New Jersey and California because of a detached retina and cataracts in his left eye.