I just finished watching this fight and I must say it was a good action packed fight. I know some might have a negative viewpoint of this fight because of Pernell Whitaker being very past it but in my opinion he was'nt a "shot fighter" by any means, he was still a world class fighter but not top elite anymore. The Pernell Whitaker of the Trinidad fight would have beaten any B- level welterweight that night and he gave a very good account of himself. I felt Whitaker won four rounds which were rounds 1,4,5,7. Rounds 4 or 7 could have gone either way but Pernell accuracy with the jab won the rounds in my view. As the fight went on you can tell Tito respect for Whitaker grew larger and even he was surprised at how well Pernell did in the fight.
Much better action fight than the severely overhyped DLH-Quartey fight that happened a week earlier. Whitaker still had his fighting spirit here, that's for sure, and I agree with you Benny that that Whitaker would still beat B level welters like Margarito and Clottey, despite being quite far past his best.
It always annoyed me how Whitaker just kept sitting down in the late rounds and the ref kept letting him get away with it, rather than score a KD or penalize him. It reminded me of Jimmy Young getting away with sticking his head through the ropes against Ali.
I haven't watched that fight in nearly a decade, but I believe I remember it well. Whitaker was very much in the fight. Pernell was my favorite fighter from the 90's, and I really wanted him to pull this off. I think it was the 6th round that Trinidad broke Whitaker's jaw, and Whitaker came out firing at Trinidad's body in the 7th; doubling him over even. I think I scored it that way as well. I also thought Whitaker was winning the 2nd until he was dropped near the end. I feel confident about picking Whitaker to defeat Trinidad a couple years earlier. With Whitaker yet to take a long career lay off, I think he may have been victorious over Quartey after his fight with Pestriaev. Too bad about the cocaine problem. I actually thought Whitaker was doing well in some of those rounds, but you could justify scoring some of those same rounds 10-8 for Trinidad because he was essentially taking an ass(or a knee if you prefer). After I found out his jaw was broken, and imagined being in the ring with a puncher like Trinidad at a size disadvantage, it seems like it may have almost been an involuntary reflex.
Funny, I was just on another board where people were talking about what a great classic fight Quartey-DLH was. I'm thinking, do people actually watch the whole fight, or watch two rounds and just remember that instead of the other 10? I remember Merchant saying during Whitaker-Trinidad that it was a better action fight than Quartey-DLH. I agree, although not nearly as competitive or suspenseful.
Oh yeah that past prime Whitaker would have beaten Clottey and Manos de Concrete. SS is this fight hard for you to watch as a die hard Whitaker fan?
I just took as the referee feeling bad for Whitaker, and if he would have penalized him or scored it a knockdown it would have completely took Whitaker out the fight also.
I didn't watch the fight until about a month after it happened, but I heard he lost the next day after it happened and when I saw how wide the scorecards were against him I felt very disappointed. When I finally saw the fight though, I was actually impressed with what Whitaker did in the fight. For a an undersized old guy with a broken jaw to bang with Trinidad and even give him a couple of scares along the way, I thought he showed tremendous heart. Nowadays it's actually one of my favourite Whitaker fights to watch and it features one of my favoutire Merchant quotes (back in the day when he still produced the odd gem ) : "When a fighter who has won fights by his quickness and cleverness through most of his career matures and gets older you get a chance to see what he is made of, and we're seeing what Pernell Whitaker is made of as he goes RIGHT AT a younger, stronger, puncher. " :good
I'd just add that this fight, whilst Whitaker clearly lost it, actually did a lot for his legacy. No other fight gives us such an indication as to Whitaker's toughness and that he did receive such a battering and yet withstood it, it says a lot for him. If this fight never happened, I doubt Whitaker would be seen as having a chance of beating the likes of Duran, Williams, Pryor etc - at least not with as much credibility.
Whitaker was shot. He was reduced to a sitting duck basically. He had to actually rely on his fighting skills, and he never could hit that hard. I felt bad watching Trinidad tee off on him with straight rights. He was a great fighter, and he showed what separates the greats by hanging in there and trying to fight back, but his skills were long gone.