Pernell Whittaker

I've stated on this forum several time that Whitaker was the best fighter of the 90's.

Roughly, if not exactly, 50% of his fights were with a title at stake. More incredibly, you can argue he only lost one of them.

Pernell Whitaker has one of the best defenses ever seen. When you add in his top notch jab, great combinations and body work, his defense is also benefited by his offense. There is the saying that the best defense is a good offense. I think when you add Pernell's offense to his defense, you get the best defensive fighter of all time.

 

Never heard of him.

Seriously thoug i love Whitaker and he was one of the main rasons i got into the sport, though i don't feel the need to post much about him nowadays.I'm talked out on most of the topics that come up regarding him.Chavez fight etc...


A multi-weight great. one of the best lightweights and pure-boxer\defensive specialists ever.

I don't agree with the emerging school of thought on here and in the general forum that he is one of\ if not the most complete fighters ever though.He's in that upper echelon of truly great fighters who are also versatile, but i'd never really thought to make more distinction than that.if anything i'd see the fact he had relatively mediocre power would put him towards the bottom of that top bracket as far as being "complete" goes.

What made Whitaker special and unique for me was that he seemed to better combine the defensive specialist and counterpunching roles with the busy -work everything from a constant jab offense- of more strictly textbook technicians better than anyone before him.A lot of the better defensive fighters had offensive styles that were too reliant on feasting of mistakes and countering from them.they could be taken out of their element by certain styles.I thought Whitaker got past that somewhat with his busy technically correct straight punching offensive style and mkaing sure the jab was always key.

There hasn't been anyone that has followed up that yet, certainly not Mayweather.

 

Camacho of course.

 

I have him at #1

 

When sweet pea boxed the under rated freddie pendleton he had something to think about, freddie gave a very good account of him self

 

Personally, I always thought Pea was one of the most complete fighters ever at lightweight. He could box and he could punch (yes, punch), he could work the body and he threw a lot of punches. What made him so great at LW wasn't just his defense (which most people credit as his primary attribute), but actually his offense. Look at how he floored Mayweather, beat the **** out of Haugen, shut down Ramirez, blew out Nazario, and gave Paez a body beating. Even against Nelson, in which he fought the whole fight on the back foot, he still kept up a fast pace and threw a lot of punches. As he moved up in weight, he became more defensive and more of a "stinker", unfortunately. At LW though, I think he was one of the top 5, if not top 3 best ever at the weight. Only Leonard and Armstrong would I rate over him.

 

One of Whitaker's best showings for offense, certainly when it came to power punches, was the rematch with McGirt at welterweight. He adjusted after about 4 rounds and proceeded to punch the face off McGirt down the stretch of the fight. That was Whitaker in a bad mood, for sure. I'm not too sure he was comfortable with boxing McGirt, so he decided to just beat the **** out of him.

 

McGirt had given him a close fight the first time, so I guess he wanted to settle matters as decisively as possible in the rematch.

He also had a great offensive performance (one of his last) in the Rivera rematch, in which I felt he reverted back to his old LW style and outslugged Rivera in a fairly exciting fight. Again, that was another instance of him settling matters after a close and disputed first fight.

 

For me sweet pea is the 2nd best lightweight of all time only behind the great benny leanard, i could watch sweet pea's ighweight fights all day, he was the complete package at lighweight i think he would of boxed the ears of duran and armstrong

 

As i said before big props to freddie pendelton who give a prime whitaker a good fight

 

Whitaker was an excellent fighter in the 90s, arguably the best, he was not too shabby in the 80s either.

But his boring style turned the mainstream away from him, and his personality did not help things either. So ever since his retirement there has been an unwritten rule that says anyone who knows anything about the sport in the era, must talk up Whitaker.

He does not need that, it is patronizing; Whitaker would do far better in the long run, if he is forgotten about ala Langford, then someone can find him on his death bed and talk up his wonderful talent.