A poster (don't remember exactly who) recently said that he'd never label Pea a technician, and while it may seem controversial I can see where he's coming from. What do you say?
This question is really more about how one defines the term "technician", than about Whitaker. He was incredibly skilled, but had obvious technical flaws in his footwork. Is this enough not to consider him a technician?
Nobody's perfect. Whitaker's tendancy to cross his feet or perform certain technical no-no's was more down to his ego than anything else, in my opinion. He only ever got himself into trouble when he was doing this sort of thing, usually. When he got down to business he boxed off the backfoot and utilised the ring as good as anyone I've ever seen. That was all down to supreme awareness and the ability to integrate offense, defense, and footwork properly.
It's almost like suggesting that Ray Robinson is disqualified from being a boxing master because he got hit too much (after all, boxing is the manly art of self-defense right?). You can find flaws in anyone's arsenal. Whitaker can cross his feet all he wants as long as it doesn't become a liability. To my recollection (which admittedly is as flawed as anyone's) it never did. How would not crossing his feet have improved on his game? As far as boxing goes Whitaker was as close to pugilistic perfection as I've ever seen. The guy not only rarely lost a round, he rarely lost a MINUTE of a round. His shutouts were so thorough as to often render his fights boring.
Only if you can find reasons in Robinson's technique as to why he got hit too much. Some very technical boxers aren't that difficult to hit because the lack speed and reflxes, just like some not very technical boxers are extremely hard to hit because of their speed and reflexes. Because when you cross your feet you're off balance, both open to being hit as well as unable to punch effectively yourself. It's actually a flaw that in many cases is very easy to exploit for the opponent and one of the most common mistakes that beginners make. Someone with Whitaker's great reflexes, awareness and natural balance will get away with more times than not, but it can always be exploited. Just like Ali's tendency to lean back from punches.
Well, thats the question, really. I'm not trying to make a point about Pea, but rather clarify how the term "technician" is used.
Fair enough. But when you're a technical master you're allowed to take certain liberties with the textbook, imo. In fact, doing so can oftentimes ruin your opponent's timing and disrupt his overall game (which PW did ALL the time and I practice doing in the gym quite a bit myself). I rarely saw Whitaker off balance, open to being hit or unable to punch effectively (if only he'd had more power). And I definitely never saw any opponent easily "exploit" anything he did. Ever. This debate reminds me of one I heard from some guitar "technician" criticizing Jimi Hendrix because he made technical "mistakes" like "overbends" and "flubbed notes", etc. The guy he was debating with pointed out that this is why the technician himself would always be a technician and never an artist. New ground is broken by people challenging the rules and accepted practices of any medium, artistic or athletic. If not then we'd still be "toeing the scratch" and twirling our fists like old time fighters, wouldn't we?
Nah, not really. He was a technically superb puncher though. I think of him as a box-punching-slickster-counter-puncher