a prime pernell whittaker vs manny pacquiao, who would win???

I suspect we are talking about the Pacquiao that fought Diaz at LW, against the Whitaker who fought as a LW? Whitaker UD.


One of Whitaker's greatest asset imo, was that he could make you fight his fight, dance to his tune, he was extremely hard to hit when he used his legs, and could counter punch whilst moving backwards.

Whitaker got hit slightly more when he held his fight, but fighting on the backfoot, from long range, the way he did against Chavez, Nelson, Ramirez, he was pretty hard to pin down to get off consistently. Manny is not the best at cutting the ring down imo, and I think Whitaker could half his output by using his movement, by making him fight his fight.

I would give Manny a better shot if he was a bit longer than Whitaker, I felt lack of height was a problem for Whitaker against taller opponents.

 

Sweet Pea would school him.
One of the best defensive boxers ever in my opinion. Just doesn't get the same accolades as some other fighters.

 

Agree man, he! if anyone, was the best fighter of the last 25 years or so imo. :thumbsup

 

I would go with Whittaker too. I loved him in the fight with Chavez and yeah he was robbed. He would frustrate Manny too like he did most. 'sweet pea' definatley an ATG. A superb technician.

 

This is basically one of the easiest fantasy fights to dissect, between two ATG's.

Whitaker in his prime at 135 is very hard to beat and it's difficult to find anyone in history who beats him clearly. Pacquaio is made to order for Pernell at whatever weight to be honest, but it's a massive ask for him at 135. He would get countered to death, think Marquez but 10 times worse. Whitaker would draw his lead, step to his blind side and find him everytime.

If we're talking the Pacquiao of few years ago then it looks even worse for him. He had a very predictable punching pattern, which is a big no, no against someone as sharp as Sweet Pea. He's improved immeasurabily now though, but still not enough to beat a prime Whitaker who always liked southpaws better, because he could take away your jab without a straight right to worry about. Manny is to easy to counter and would lose a clear decision.

See, the great thing about Whitaker was he was very quick in the mind, which means he has to be favoured against the aggresive fighters who would come to him. He wasn't the strongest, biggest or most athletic. But it's the quickness of his mind which gave him great reflexes and sets him apart from his contemporaries. Meldrick Taylor for example had speed and could shoe shine with the best of them and was faster then Pernell Whitaker. But he didn't have his quickness in terms of anticipating shots. Whitaker was like a chess player who's a few steps ahead of his opponent and could see a move before he made it. Nightmare match-up for Pacquiao.

The better fantasy fight is Whitaker vs. Duran. Roberto gives Sweet Pete more problems then Pacquiao (not neccessarily beats) because he's more sound on the inside and was more astute coming in. With subtle head movement.

 

There's not a lot of fighters Whitaker wouldn't embarass and not dodge almost all their ****.

 

Yep, Pernell is in a select group of fighters with incredible anticipation, in terms of sitting there and making you miss and it's just a joy to watch. Wilfred Benitez comes to mind.

It's something that's molded under the perfect conditions, especially when you're young.

 

whittaker for me

 

well if i have to put my money on it it would be whitaker

but we haven't seen this new improved pacquiao in with a fighter of that style to really judge, we can answer this question properly when/if pacquiao fights mayweather.

 

Or another counter puncher period.

Pac has been fighting straight ahead guys since JMM 2.

 

Pernell all day

 

Pernell beats him at 135. Any weight above, except maybe 140, and Pac wins it. Sweet Peas activity dropped massively at 147. Pacs been fed stylistically good match ups (if he can handle the intangiables) but we are yet to seem him in there with a slick boxer. I think his fights against Erik, JMM and MAB showed how he improved as a boxer but he'll still struggle if he has to go looking for someone and they'll make him pay for his technical flaws.

 

Mayweather and Pernell are very different though. Floyd is not a southpaw for a start and hasn't got the same footwork and freestyling of Pete. Apart from them being counter punchers there's little else that's the same. I think Manny would have a better chance of beating Floyd then he would of getting any change off Pete.

Here's the big difference that gives Manny a better chance with Floyd; You see, because Floyd is not a southpaw and employs a shoulder roll this means he's open for two of Pacquiao's best punches...the straight left, which Manny catches everyone with due to the way he sets it up and more importantly the right hook. That counter southpaw right cook is what makes Floyd's shoulder roll less effective, because it will come from Mayweather's blind side.

What i mean by "blind side" is, if you watch when Floyd goes into the shoulder rock away and steps to his right, if a fighter like Manny with brillient footwork who can match him for speed, steps around him to Floyd's left he won't be able to see the punches coming. And Manny has the tools to make that happen.

Not to mention Pernell is more slicker then Floyd.

 

Sweetpea beats him at LW. He is technically too good and would frustrate the hell outta pac all night IMO. At WW, PAC takes it tho. He is a beast at the weight and sweetpea was never really great at the higher weights in fairness.