Greatest Fighter of the last 25 Years?

Yeah, if you want to nitpick. It wasn't really a full fledged welterweight contest (Pea coming in at 145, Chavez 142) and the contract was drawn up in that fashion to benefit Julio. Was hardly the first time he'd fought slightly above 140 either. He was still deserving at that point to be considered the best P4P fighter in the sport, was undefeated and simply better than Barrera, just to cover the bases. It's a landmark win, in arguably the most significant fight of the decade.

Right. Really wasn't too long before he'd start to show cracks (no ****in pun intended) in his ability.

:deal

True.

 

:rofl

I did say...

I guess revisionist history and detractions vs what was believed at the time by a fair amount of observers just fell flat on it's face, didn't it? :shock:

 

Whitaker used his immense size advantage to utterly bully the much smaller Nelson around the ring. How about a little boxing off the back foot, Pea? Can't you win a fight on Skill?! :-(

 

Picking on weak belt holders like Julio Cesar Vasquez. :verysad

 

Covered that bit on the previous page. :good

Hardly surprising. It's actually rare that anybody who considers Floyd their favorite fighter is also a legitimate fan of Whitaker as well, and vice versa. It's a reluctant respect, if anything. Plenty of 90's heads dump on and try to diminish Floyd's resume, accomplishments and skills. The fact that they're both ATG defensive fighters and literally right before/after one another really doesn't help at all.

 

It's like...

Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.

:yep

(Except without Floyd biting the **** out of Whitaker's style)

 

I think it was more to do with people really buying into Chavez's invincibility at the time more than anything else. Whitaker had been considered no worse than #2 for several years by that point and the only thing left for him to do was take it from Chavez in the ring. I don't know SI's opinion (when SI cared about boxing), but they certainly gave him his due afterwards and may of even backtracked a little.

October - 1994 after McGirt II

So why did they sling leather in the middle of the ring for 12 rounds, like miniature Joe Fraziers? Of course, throughout the fight at the Scope in Norfolk, Va., last Saturday night, there was more boxing than fight fans can normally expect to see in a year. Whitaker, who holds the WBC welterweight title but deems only the mythical "best fighter pound-for-pound" title worthy of his attention, was so smooth his fans could have just as easily named him Buttermilk as Sweet Pea. Still, didn't it look as if he busted up Buddy pretty good?

Whitaker, now 34-1-1 after winning an easy decision to retain his title and quiet the clamorings of McGirt and his New York legions, fought a surprisingly active fight, peppering the supposedly stronger McGirt with a right jab that had him staggering by the fifth round. Time and again McGirt (64-4-1) was hit with a second jab before he even had a chance to react to the first. And they were stiff jabs. McGirt's left eye was swollen midway through the fight, and his spirit obviously was sapped well before that. Not even his flash knockdown of Whitaker in the second round could bolster his confidence.

In the face of so much aggression—relatively speaking, you understand—all faith in McGirt's chances quickly evaporated. His manager, Secaucus, N.J., tailor Al Certo, said afterward that McGirt just, hadn't had it. Not after the second round? "Not after the first," he replied. "He didn't have it at all. Buddy looked weak in comparison to Whitaker. The other guy, he's a real tough guy to beat."

Whitaker might now be judged impossible to beat. Even before his widely disputed draw a year ago with the now fading Julio Cesar Chavez, who once wore that mythical pound-for-pound mantle, Whitaker was regarded as the best boxer in the game. His fights appeal to the cognoscenti, and even though some regard his bouts as mostly boring, if sometimes playful, he has attracted a growing cult. HBO, which is giving him $18 million for four fights (this was the second in the contract), gets better ratings for Whitaker than for any other nonheavyweight. His skills are that obvious.

But now we have learned that Whitaker, when sufficiently motivated, can swing with the big boys. All he needs is the challenge to produce a big event, "a spectacle," as he calls his major fights, or perhaps just the opportunity to right a wrong.

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Spoke too soon. :deal