I've been watching a lot of Whitaker these past days, most recently against Fred Pendleton, who gave him a few problems (in as much as anyone gave lightweight Whitaker problems). Pendleton is a big lightweight, 5'8/72" and physically imposing, but Whitaker didn't seem to struggle with him when the bumped up, he handled him ok. Whitaker, a strong lightweight or not?
Absolutely, as proven by his ability to effectively move up in weight and still handle himself okay. He seemed to move more before age, additional weight, and the experience of simply knowing he could do it set in, and he started fighting in a more stationary way, and utilizing more body punching. At lightweight he seemed to think he had to use his legs more, perhaps adding to the incorrect assumption he was somehow brittle. I thought Azmuah Nelson had a great shot against him going in, but what stood out in that fight was how much bigger and stronger Pea seemed than the aggressive Nelson. Physically, it was no contest.
No contest is a fair way to say it IMO. And Pernell mixed it up quite a bit at lightweight, wouldn't you say? There were plenty of fights where guys were expected to have to chase him and there he was, right in front of them. After the Ramirez robbery, I think.
Hmmm. I don't know, I guess it's been a while since I've seen those fights. I'd have to go back and look at them. I do remember him (at least in general terms in my mind's eye) setting down more as he grew, but I could be wrong. I haven't actually seen the Pendleton fight.
He started moving in Pendleton a bit because he was finding him, but in Ramirez II and Haugen he was right there.
Whitaker was fairly strong, strong fighters like Tito, Oscar, Chavez, Nelson, Vasquez (who dropped Winky 5 times), couldn't walk trough him even when he was in front of them.
Wasn't he spinning Haugen quite a bit though? I haven't seen it since it aired, but I think I remember a knockdown in the sixth round, where he pivots around Haugen and as Haugen turns to find him he gets put on his knees by a left cross. Like I said, it's been forever since I've seen that and that might just be a case of the one moment that sticks out and I'm misremembering.
Sure, he's moving around but he's also applying pressure. Haugen looks so bereft it's funny, his whole plan ****ed. Got a lot of heart that Haguen though.
I'll have to go back over that period of his fights, he was so multi-faceted. Haugen is still remembered fondly here in his hometown. We haven't got much else, frankly.
You mean the baseball player, Frank Thomas? Nah, just Haugen. And his sisters, they were just as tough in school. I think Freddie Steele was from down the road about ten miles, in Tacoma.
Quite frankly I was really impressed with his strength against Chavez. I thought JCC would walk through him.
His legs seems especially stout for his size. He certainly had strength, and if nothing else, excellent functional strength for boxing.