I think he outpoints both Manny and Floyd. Thats not to say he is better all time but his style is bad for both of them. Manny lives by his use of angles but against a southpaw boxer like Whitaker where all the angles are closed I'm not sure he can adjust. For Floyd its largely the same thing. I dont think he ever gets a good angle on Whitaker sure he will land his pot shots from time to time but I think that Whitaker lands more and his jab will frustrate Floyd all night. I see a fight with Floyd as Floyd stuck in his high guard trying to get the angle to throw his right but never really getting it all the time getting peppered by that jab. I think that Manny has the better chance to catch Whitaker but its still a stylistic nightmare for both fighters.
Floyd had style problems with Judah who isn't even Pernell Jr. Every time Floyd drops his left to get the vision to throw his right, a habit of his when he is using his high guard, he would get popped by Whitaker's jab. Whitaker's use of angles and jab keeps Floyd off balance the entire night. He would be constantly trying to catch up to Whitakers faster feet to get the angle to throw all the while getting knocked off rhythm by the jab. Whitaker wins on points in a pretty boring fight.
I'm watching Whitaker school Roger and I'm just struck in my mind with the question can one punch Floyd hit Whitaker. I'm watching Whitaker make Roger look stupid as he misses straight right after straight right. Both a great defensive fighters but Floyd has very specific very predictable techniques he uses to avoid certain punches. Whitaker can make you miss the same punch 10 different ways in a round. Whitaker's far bigger bag of defensive tricks would give Mr. Adjustment Floyd way to much to adjust to.
Why even bring up Pacquiao or Mayweather, or any other welterweight or junior middle? The OP specified prime Whitaker, in today's (implicitly, lightweight) era. Applicable match-ups would be: El Titere Crawford Shafikov Gamboa Mikey Garcia etc.
Way different than Floyd. :rofl Floyd got the better of him in their sparring sessions, a prime Floyd would beat him in a very close competitive fight. 7-5 or 6-5-1 kind of decision. Close but VERY clear.
floyd got the better of him? how cracked out and old was pernell by the time floyd sparred him? prime vs prime pernell owns floyd. one of floyds toughest fights ever was augustine for petes sake!!! pernells style would give floyd all kinds of problems, but we all know floyd would wait til pernell was on his death bed and cut him a huge pay advance of drugs to make sure he would have all the advantages!!!!
I agree with you 100%. Floyd is nowhere near as elusive as Whitaker. And more importantly, Whitaker was far, far busier averaging 80 to 100 punches per round. Floyd averages only half that with absolutely no edge in power. The fight would most likely be a bit of a snoozefest, but Whitaker outpoints Floyd easily. And, for the first time in his career, it would be Floyd who would look confused and left without a plan.
How did Floyd doing better than a lot of the other young fighters in sparing but still getting humiliated somehow morph into "Floyd got the better of him"? "Ronnie Shields, now one of the sport's best trainers, was an assistant trainer under George Benton at the time working with Whitaker. He was there to see Whitaker and Mayweather spar. And while he said Whitaker had few problems with the 17-year-old prodigy, it was obvious that Mayweather was destined to be a superstar. "Pernell handled him, like he handled all of those guys," Shields said. "He wasn't hitting them hard, just playing with them, going down low like he did and fighting with his hands at his side. They couldn't hit him. But remember, Pernell was the best in the world at the time. When Mayweather was in there, even though he was having trouble with Pernell, it was obvious how good the kid was. "Pernell is a guy who doesn't give out a lot of compliments. He didn't want to say anything about another fighter, because he didn't like the idea of anyone upstaging him. But I remember him saying to me, 'Man, this kid is good right now.' He said to Floyd, 'You stay with this and you remain dedicated, ain't nobody going to touch you.' " Give this story another 10 years to evolve and Floyd will have knocked him out cold.