Pernell Whittaker vs Floyd Mayweather?

NOBODY beats Whitaker easily.

 

Whitaker by PTS.

 

It's never very hard to imagine at all. He's not busy enough to beat Pea.

 

If a prime Tito was in the welterweight division when Floyd turned 30 years old, Mayweather would have retired at 35-0 never to be heard of again.

Everything I've seen of Floyd tells me that he ducks that fight because it is too risky. Heck, he ducked Antonio Margarito, a destitute man's version of Tito - as if he would share ring time with prime Trinidad!

If it did ever happen in some alternate universe where Floyd wasn't risk averse and he was forced to fight him, I think it would have been somewhat similar to the Tito-DLH fight. Floyd would land the better shots but ultimately end up running for his life once he realises he has nothing to hold off a desperate terminator chasing him down the stretch of the fight.

Don't even try and compare Tito to a weight drained Chico. Trinidad hits WAY harder, Trinidad takes WAY better shots, and Trinidad is WAY better at pursuing his prey.

 

Whitaker isn't a natural pressure fighter, but he is not scared to go there if he needs to.

That's what makes the Hurtado performance impressive to me.

As bad as Whitaker looked that night, and as badly outboxed as he was, he said screw it, I'm going to go after this guy and try and knock him out.

He wasn't scared to take a shot, and he was willing to risk more than Floyd, and I think that could make a difference in this fight.

I don't really agree that Floyd had better balance than Whitaker. He was simply less risk averse and put himself in less dangerous positions. Whitaker did not mind standing in close with guys and letting his hands go. He was willing to get hit to get his shots in. Check their comparative punch stats to see how much busier Whitaker was in general. When you do that, you're going to get hit and knocked off balance.

That said, it's not like Floyd has never been knocked down. I think Castillo legit knocked him down with a body shot in the first fight (which didn't get called) and Judah put him down too.

 

Pea is loved on these forums and...well....Floyd is not. So the consensus does not surprise me. I am not a fan of either guy but have an appreciation for both.

I think Floyd takes him, 8-4 or so, but everyone calls it a gift decision/robbery and he gets bashed for winning again anyway

 

The Chavez and DLH that he fought were better than anyone Floyd has ever fought. I think he beat both. He literally outclassed one of them too and at least held his own with the other when past his best.

I would argue Mayweather has not fought anyone better than the McGirt, Vasquez or Nelson that Whitaker fought either.

I think one of the ironies of their careers will be that Mayweather will have lot more HOF'ers on his resume that he beat, even though the better fighters in deeper pools in the 80's/90's that Whitaker fought will probably never get in.

 

Shutting out Camacho in the most brutal beating of his career, beating Haugen to a pulp and Ko'ing Alli is uneventful? Sounds about right.

No one was saying Chavez is past it going into the Whitaker fight.

Everyone was saying Pac was though heading into the Mayweather fight.

Performances beared it out too.

Chavez-Whitaker was conducted at a much higher level than Pac-Floyd was.

 

Stopped reading at "Floyd hasn't fought anyone better than Vazquez, McGirt, or Nelson (!)" FOH

 

Very tough call .possibly pea using his jab might edge it .

 

It is because Floyd was more of a businessman.That comes at a price when talking legacy.

 

Whitaker holding Chavez to a draw is more impressive than any of Floyd's victories.

 

Pretty close overall in both defense and offense. Floyd has more consistent pop in his shots. Whitaker could do more damage with single left hands, due to timing or loading up on it or whatever. He unified the LW titles on a single left hand in the 1st round against Nazario, basically ended the Lomeli fight with one left hand, rocked Chavez briefly in the 8th round of their fight, and turned the Hurtado fight around with one left hand, and then almost killed him with the follow up lefts while Mercante Jr. stood there and watched. I guess Mercante Jr. can be really active when it comes to helping fighters "suck it up" and deliberately ignoring the requests of the chief second, but just stands there when guys almost get killed with punches.

Whitaker had the superior jab as his right jab was simply brilliant, although Floyd's jab is excellent too, as he has the best jab to the body I have ever seen. Floyd's left hook is better than Whitaker's right hook IMO. Floyd's straight right is better overall in effectiveness than Whitaker's straight left. Whitaker has the edge in workrate and combinations. They are both excellent body-punchers. I give Whitaker the slight edge due to him letting his hands go more and how frequently he contorted his body to get the angles on body punches. There is one instance early in the 8th round against Hatton that I've seen probably 1,000 times because it's so great to watch, when Floyd pivots his body to get the angles on these bodyshots against Hatton (during the part when Manny Steward says Ricky is bringing out the best out of Floyd). He then again uses the jab to the body to set up a right to Ricky's head.

Whitaker did this quite often. He got these weird angles due to his body movements and how he got low. Unorthodox but not necessarily technically unsound either, it would give him angles for offense and also for defense.

Anyway, on offense they are pretty close as they both have areas in which they were better at. Whitaker had an edge on defense. I doubt anyone would get hurt since they were defensive masters and the chances of Whitaker landing a shot on Floyd like he did against Nazario or Lomeli is very slim.

I think Whitaker's pesky jab and superior workrate would be the difference in a close decision. 7-5

 

A good, well reasoned post. This is close for me. Pea at lightweight, a nice 8-4, and Floyd at welter 7-5. Meeting halfway I would take Whitaker. Definitely. So overall I like Whitaker by decision.