I think he retires undefeated had that been the case, save for his well-past-his-prime fight vs. Trinidad.
I think he did have decent power, he just wasn't focused on it as much as he was making guys miss. Now if he had exceptional Julian Jackson type power.....I think he would of gone undefeated up until he got too old like you said vs Tito.
I remember his very first fight- an ABC primetime telecast hosted by Chris Schenkel. One of the many useless things I remember. But in that fight, against a guy named Farrain Comeaux, he was Deontay Wildering him, hitting him flush over and over with total windup shots almost running at the guy at times, and couldn't get him out of there. Finally after about the 100th flush shot through 6 the ref had seen enough and realized it was total mismatch. He certainly beats JC Chavez or DLH with good power.
Pernell with power is one of the the greatest 'what if', along with Thomas Hearns having an iron chin.
He would have never lost and he likely would have been far more avoided too. Nobody wants to get out-boxed, you punching nothing but air, and then to top it off you end up getting knocked the F out
I don't think Hearns had a bad chin. He just couldn't carry it up weight classes, which is to be expected. Plenty of good Welterweights hit him hard and he withstood it.
His power was actually underrated yes he didn't score many stoppages because he didn't often seek KO's, and he would use his incredible reflexes and movement to befuddle and school his opponents. But when he was in danger of losing vs Hurtado he sat down on his punches, he scored probably one of the most brutal KO's you'll ever see. That fight alone shows if Whitaker had to sit down more on his punches in the trenches, he did have enough power to get his opponent out of there.
Agreed with this. Whitaker didn't have Hearns-esque power but when he sat down on his punches he could be a hurtful puncher. His KO of Juan Nazario (who was just fresh off a win against Edwin Rosario) is a good example. This content is protected
Still delivered one of the best ko's. Shades of griffith vs parett for a sec, scary stuff. https://youtube.com/shorts/qvNKVICdxj0?si=UYFbmWGrO53U8C3-
