Compare/contrast Pernell Whittaker and Floyd Mayweather Jr.?

Mayweather had all he could handle from DLH and if you give DLH the majority of the close rounds it becomes way closer than a 4 round margin.

At Floyd's age (well, the age Floyd last fought at) Whitaker was setting a compubox record for most punches landed in a fight and dominating Buddy McGirt. Let's wait and see what Floyd does when he is about 32 years old, which is when Whitaker started to decline.

For what it's worth, I think if Mayweather loses his speed he will be in a WORLD of bother. He's reduced to potshotting 30 times per round right now, if he loses some snap on his shots he will be ready to be taken quick smart. I don't envision him ever showing the fighting spirit Whitaker did against Tito.

 

From round 8 onward Floyd dominated every minute of the fight. If you score clean effective punching there is no way you can give Oscar more then 4 rounds.

Whitaker was 29 when he outpointed McGirt. Floyd is 31, about a month and a half shy of 32 now.

atsch Slap yourself. Hopkins only weapon right now is a straight right lead, and his defense, both an inferior version of Floyds. And he's considered top 3 in the world at 43 years old. Floyd is in a class with Hopkins and Toney. Fighters who although not supernaturally athletic are great technical boxers. What happened with Whitaker is inline with what happened to Roy. Except alot earlier. Oh and Floyd showed plenty of spirit in his first fight with Castillo. 11th round with a broken rib and torn rotator cuff. You should watch it if you question floyds toughness. :good

 

I agree with the poster that said that Whitaker's style was'nt judge friendly.

The reason why Mayweather got the decision against DLH and Whitaker was'nt even in the ballpark, was exactly the issue of Whitaker not being judge friendly, or to put it more bluntly, not throwing and landing consistently with EFFECTIVE punches.

While Mayweather has a lower workrate than Whitaker, Mayweather throws and lands his punches with alot more leverage on them......thats the eye candy that judges look for, and have always throughout history have looked for.
Pernell Whitaker always ignored that fact. He fought to the beat of his own rules and his own drummer, and cried robbery afterward.


I favor Mayweather at any weight in this matchup.
I think its close though. Certainly Mayweather is'nt going to get off his punches at his leisure, as he's become accustomed against most that he's faced.....Whitaker is too good defensively for that.

Its a tactical fight for the most part.....imo, the more telling and harder shots being thrown and landed by Mayweather Jr.

 

All exellent points DR......

.....and you're absolutely right about Mayweathers toughness.....when pushed, he can be as tough as anyone in the business today.
Late in the first Castillo fight was a prime example.....he had hurt his hand midway through the fight and it effected his second half performance.
.....late in the fight, Mayweather sensed he was losing alot of rounds past the 5th, and he dug his heels and made a stand.....at one point bodying up and going toe to toe with Castillo.
Guts had alot to do with Mayweather getting past Castillo that night.

.....and lets not forget Mayweather Physically imposing not only his skill, but his will on Ricky Hatton. Mayweather physically beat Hatton at his own antics by outwrestling him. That really did impress me!

 

Rounds 9 and 12 were both close. Mayweather certainly did NOT dominate every minute of those rounds.

How old was Whitaker at the time of the McGirt rematch and how old was Floyd when he beat Hatton?

Hopkins is massively overrated right now. He fought an aging Joe Calzaghe who himself is massively overrated and lost. He fought a crispy creme Winky and got outlanded and walked down. He fought Pavlik well, but Kelly is the exact type of lead footed slow fighter that a mover like Hopkins thrives against.

James Toney has been competing with crap fighters for a good decade now and would get picked apart by anyone above that average level.

Saying that what happened to Whitaker is akin to Roy is a ****ing disgrace. Whitaker went and fought an all time great in Trinidad with a busted jaw and warred with him for 12 rounds. Roy Jones got spent by two journeymen.

As for Floyd yes he did show a lot of spirit in round 11, a round he still lost. Apart from that he tried to avoid every exchange and ran for his dear life in the rematch stinking out the joint.

 

Mayweather's punches had less effect on DLH that what Whitaker's did as far as I'm concerned. Mayweather was throwing prosaic potshots that even an ancient DLH could see coming and he blocked a good majority of them with a simple high guard. And Mayweather's offense wasn't even good enough to keep a slower footed DLH from tracking him to the ropes and pounding away. That happened how many times against Whitaker? Even your boy Chavez couldn't get Whitaker to the ropes:good

Mayweather's punches do carry a bit more snap though, I will admit that, but Whitaker's workrate and punch output more than compensates for it. His jab alone is a great offensive and defensive weapon even though it's not particularly heavy.

 

Mayweather and Whitaker go about it differently Scientist, I think you know that.......

Whitaker goes to great lenghths to avoid the ropes, he actually does what you accused Mayweather Jr. of doing in the Castillo rematch in your post above........

Mayweather on the other hand purposely goes to the ropes, and likes to hang there for stretches, picking and rolling off shots while he counters in return......I dont think you'll deny that he hurt DLH with shots doing just that.

The thing about Mayweather is that he can use his feet as Whitaker does at center ring when need too, but he can also put his back to the ropes and be elusive enough and then create off of that, like James Toney does.

There is not question that both Mayweather and Whitaker are masters of what they do.
.......just to me, I happen to believe that Mayweather is the more versatile of the two.......and as you know from our many debates Scientist, I favor fighters who punch with leverage behind their punches.


I would like to have seen this matchup. I'll will say that its certainly not a given that Mayweather would beat Whitaker.....Mayweather's workrate makes me pause for that assumption........which is the reason I'd like to have seen it.

 

Both those rounds Floyd dominated the first 2 minutes of the fight and Oscar only fought the last 30 seconds or so. No way could you score round 12 for Oscar in any capacity. Unless you shut your eyes for the first 2 min 30 secs of the round.

Whitaker 30. Mayweather 2 months shy of his 31st. However Hatton at this stage of his career, is a tougher opponent then McGirt who was in his twilight being in what, 70 fights?

Calzaghe is one of the most talented fighters in boxing today. And I dont like the dude, but its easy to see he has skills. Hopkins made him look amatuerish. From 168 to 195 there are only 2 fighters on Calzaghe's level. Hopkins and Chad Dawson. And Hopkins is 43 years old. Nothing overrated about him. Name 3 light heavyweights who'd you consider favorites.

Outlanded and walked down? :huh Along with Winky Wright, and Kelly Pavlik, he also dominated Antonio Tarver.

Point being. The talent from junior welterweight to welter is about the same as light heavy. No complete fighters. Cotto can move and box, and has a decent punch, but lacks stamina, poor defense, and no chin. Margarito is just a big thug with heaps of stamina but wont make a bit of difference against someone like Mayweather who would pick him apart. Paul Williams would be his biggest threat if he fought smart. But he doesnt fight smart. So Floyd would probably do what Quintana was able to do in the first encounter.

Toney beat Holyfield 5 years ago worse then either Ibragimov or Valuev, who faced an even more shot version. Many also feel he outpointed Sam Peter in their first fight. Toney is still a top 5-7 heavyweight in my eyes, blame the state of the division, but his technical expertise have kept him in the game.

Rivera? Hurtado? Pestriav?

Floyd won the 11th round clearly. You need to watch it again. Outpointing Castillo on the inside. Floyds shown heart in alot of his fights. Chavez, Hernandez when he broke his hand, even trading with Chop Chop for 12 rounds. Showing a far superor chin to that of Cotto.

 

Great points again D_R, but Toney currently a top 5-7 heavyweight coming off of that Oquendo embarassment?:huh

......not to mention getting embarrasingly dominated boxistically by Samuel Peter of all people.atsch

 

Dont really want into this arguement but Winky did outland Hopkins I believe D-Rand..Dont have a problem with Hopkins getting the nod but the scores seemed far to wide.

 

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Heh. I gave Toney the first half of the fight. It wasnt a big robbery like people said it was. Watching the fight with my boy I told him Toney was gonna get the decision. What was embarrassing was with a fighter like Oquendo with every advantage having to jab and hold a James Toney.

Toney performs best when he cares. Like he cared about whipping Rahmans ass. If he comes in fit, the division is so bad he's a live body against any of the top 5 heavies. Hell Holyfield damn near was a "heavyweight champ of the world" :-(

 

Agree with this. I'm edging towards Sweet Pea on this one, BUT, Mayweather does deserve to be mentioned in this kind of company.

 

I think the similarities are superficial mate, I don't look at them as overly similar fighters. I really like Floyd as a fighter, but IMO Pernell Whitaker is a clear level above him in every way (except power). I genuinely believe Sweet Pea is one of the true elite fighters of history, up there with guys like Duran and Leonard as one of the most skilled and talented to ever lace up a pair of gloves. I think he would be Kryptonite for PBF at 135, I think he beats Floyd 100 times out of 100, I cannot envisage any way he could lose. He was a far better in-fighter, a better combination puncher, had a marginally better chin and defence, and had similar speed.

 

James doesnt even have to come in that fit...he is just a hard guy to dominate.

Though it seems he may have to come in roided up to be a player in the division.

 

Mayweather's 'dominance' in the first two minutes of the rounds consisted of landing a handful more punches than DLH, it wasn't as if he was so far ahead in the rounds than a few flurries by DLH in the rounds couldn't have made them contentious.

How many months was Whitaker short of his 31st birthday? Next you'll be telling me how older Mayweather was in minutes.

Please. Hatton had shown just how average he was at 147 when he almost lost to Collazo. An ancient McGirt (which Buddy wasn't) would still have beat Hatton at 147.

At the moment? That hardly seems relevant. There's hardly any talent around in the divisions. If there were we'd have stopped talking about Hopkins years ago. All time I'd name heaps to beat Hopkins at 175.

Outlanded and walked down. And he probably should have been deducted a point for hugging. He did master Pavlik and Tarver, that's true, but I don't rate either that highly.

I agree with that. I think Floyd, assuming he stays relatively prime, 9-3's, or 8-4's all those guys.

Holyfield has been shot for a decade. That he proved Valuev to be incompetent says more about Valuev than it does Evander.

Toney might be a top 10 heavyweight still, but again, that says more abotu the state of the division than anything else. It's an embarrassing division right now.

So you're telling me fights Whitaker won are akin to Roy's sleepy time against Johnson and Tarver?

I've seen the round plenty of times. It was surprising becuase it was the first round in the whole fight that Mayweather actually stood his ground and took Castillo on. Brave stuff, but he still got outlanded in the round and still lost it.

Floyd has shown some heart in his career, but nothing Whitaker like against Tito. Nothing even close.