I once heard Whitaker say...

I believe so.

 

No.

 

I seem to recall Whitaker being dropped by a 154 lber then saying he's going back to welterweight bcaus "those guys are just too big". Hagler walks through him and is later arrested for murder

 

Highly unlikely..like next to impossible...but if he was going to do it, thats the version of Hagler he would do it against.

 

No, he was too small, Hagler (& SRL) beat Whitaker.

 

i heard something similar but that he said he was too slow at the weight.

-pernell is WAHAYYY too small.
-doesnt have the punch to keep him honest.
-was too flat footed at this weight (i felt he was pretty bad on his bike which he is implying he would do)
-against a fellow southpaw with a longer reach and a good workrate
-while also arguably facing the best middleweight ever (ducks rotton tomato)


so...NOOOOOOO

 

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hagler in steamroller. looking from pernells stance.

 

That Hagler was too slow. Pea was growing into a fairly decent sized WW. Pea boxes his ears off.

 

If I was to face a bigger guy, I would not choose Marvin Hagler. He wasn't in his prime, but not far enough.

 

It wasn't a peak Hagler by any means, but he was hardly shot. Pea gets beaten up. Hagler goes into seek and destroy mode and walks him down. The added weight would slow Pernell's feet and give Hagler the oppertunity to impose his size. Pea also had limited pop, so Hagler wouldn't have much to think about coming in.

 

The Hagler who fought Ray? Maybe. Not the one who fought Hearns. The fact is Hagler in 1987 was inactive and rusty and didn't look sharp. The Hearns and Mugabi fights had taken a toll on him. The one thing is Ray did land some good punches to Marvin, which Whitaker could not have. This reminds me of when many guys wanted to fight Hearns after he struggled with Kinchen. If a guy looks bad everyone thinks they can beat him.

 

Hagler had slowed down considerably by the time he took on SRL, but he'd previously chewed up southpaws Hamsho 2X, Minter and Seales. Pernell's being a southpaw could well work against Pea here. Hagler would be who he was, and not play stupid games like trying to go orthodox. Whitaker was an inch shorter than Duran, the shortest man to seriously compete with prime Marv. But El Cholo evoked a caution in Hagler that I don't believe Whitaker could threaten him with.

Nobody ever punched Pernell out, even when he was 35 against Trinidad, so I'm not comfortable saying that Marv would definitely stop him, but he was much bigger, much stronger, had a much longer jab, and could produce a dedicated body attack (as he did against Hearns).

Under the SRL rule set, with ten ounce gloves, Pea might be able to use his speed and defensive skill to survive, but if he did last, he'd look like a blade of grass in a hurricane, and have to run and duck like hell to get to the final bell.

 

I love Whitaker's sublime skills, but this may be a bridge too far. Duo has pretty much said everything there is to say though, so no need to delve into it too deeply.