Pernell had his last fight at 135 in 1991 and it seems no one has made as significant a dent in the LW all-time landscape since. But, of those who have succeeded him, who is the best of the bunch at 135 since Pea's abdication?
If you're talking about achievements and resume purely at LW, i.e. from a fighter who spent a significant proportion of their career at the weight, it's got to be Jose Luis Castillo. H2H, Mayweather would be my pick, though the LW versions of Pacquiao, Mosley and ODLH wouldn't be far behind.
I don’t see it. You are what your record says you are. If it doesn’t reflect you being great and you somehow had greatness in you, there’s something missing. Loma is 8-2 at lightweight. So if we’re going to put him up there with or above Sweet Pea, then let’s make sure Haney and Teo are above him. I think a much better case can be made for him walking in rarefied air with the greats at 130 but I still wouldn’t rank him anywhere near the very top — imo FMJ outclasses him, Alexis Arguello beats him up with precision punching, JCC and Sandy Saddler run him out of the ring and I’d favor Brian Mitchell to outbox him, but that would probably be pretty competitive.
P4P as a fighter who competed at LW, sure. H2H ability specifically at LW, not quite, imo, but then Loma has never been anything other than a natural FW.
No-one has really created a ‘great’ lightweight legacy since Pea because no-one that good has spent enough time there. I’m see @Greg Price99 ‘s point about Castillo, who spent five years at world level at 135, but he lost to Mayweather and Corrales, albeit he was a hair’s margin from victory against both - he probably deserved the nod in the first fight with May and it took one of the greatest ever comebacks in a single round for Corrales to beat him… but he still lost. His rematch with Chico doesn’t count in terms of his lightweight legacy because it was overweight. His wins over Stevie Johnstone and Joel Casamayor are impressive, though. One name that hasn’t come up so far is Juan Manuel Marquez. Wins over Casamayor, Juan Diaz and Michael Katsidis are very good but, unfortunately it was a very short stay for JMM. DLH, Mosley and May were probably the three most talented since Pea but none stayed long enough or made a lasting legacy, which is a shame. One final name to mention is Orzubek Nazarov. He would have really benefited from a unification bout but looked like he could have beaten the other titlists like Miguel Angel Gonzalez or Rafael Ruelas. But it wasn’t to be.
This really a difficult question when you think about it. There really wasn't a continuous long reigning guy at the weight. The superstars were kinda in and out...................... I'd say Castillo
Haha, I used to have a cat named Sweet Pea but I called her Pete or Petey, all of which was a plan on Whitaker’s name story. So he was Pernell Whitaker but apparently friends called him Pete. He fought at a big amateur tournament (national GG or U.S. championships or something like that) near or in his hometown in Virginia and the crowd started chanting “Sweet Pete, Sweet Pete …” and a sports writer covering it misunderstood the chant and wrote a story about this boxer nicknamed Sweet Pea and what a sweet (a la all the Sugars) fighter he was … and it stuck. It’s probably my favorite boxing nickname, with Termite Watkins also being high on the list. I now have a male cat named Canelo because he’s a feisty ginger, haha.
I would say Shane Mosley he was 32-0 at that weight and was 9-0 in world title fights and rates very highly IMO in a H2H sense. Jose Luis Castillo had some impressive wins at the weight and probably has more notable wins than Mosley at the weight but i feel Mosley looked considerably better in a H2H sense. One name that is underrated is Stevie Johnston he won 9 world title fights at Lightweight, and his fights with Castillo were razor thin close with some feeling he was unlucky not to get the nod atleast 1 of the fights.
