Stevenson has been taking a lot of flak lately for some lackluster victories. Some say he is a brilliant technician with a high boxing IQ, others say he's loath to attack a fights with little desire to hurt the other guy. He's had 22 fights with 10 KO's. He hasn't fought any of the top names in his division...Conceicao maybe being the biggest name foe. Whitaker was also sometimes accused of being too defensive minded. He did score 17 KO's in 45 fights and fought some of the biggest names in the sport at the time....De La Hoya, Trinidad, JS Chavez, Azumah Nelson and others. What do you guys think? Stevenson is only halfway through his career, so keep that in mind.
Pernell actually knew how to throw hands and was more skilled, talented, and capable than Shakur. He also never low-blowed the hell out of all his opponents as egregiously as Shakur does.
Pernell had more style in the ring. Shakur hasn’t fought a level of competition to compare his effectiveness to Pernells, but assuming they were equally effective, Pernells style was flashier even in fights where he was too defensive. Also as was said above, Pernell threw down more and would put punches together.
Shakur isn’t worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as Pernell Whitaker. Whitaker actually threw more punches and took more risks while still maintaining awesome defense that made him watchable.
Shakur isn't fit to hold Whitaker's jockstrap; as others have said, Whitaker's defence inside the pocket was sublime, in contrast Stevenson's defence is to leap a few feet out of range anytime he is in with a half-threatening opponent.
Time heals all wounds, apparently. People seem to forget how egregiously Whitaker showboated in some of his fights! Plenty to criticize there - and we did, "back in the day!"