At Lightweight. Another Whitaker thread, i do obviously rate him and find it hard to pick a fighter to beat him. For every argument i can make against him i can make one for him. How do you see this one going ?
Exactly what I would pick. Great inside battle, with Armstrong's aggression and workrate giving him the edge.
Armstrong often did things to fighters that no one else did, and arguably no one else Pea fought was as good as him.
Whitaker by UD. I just think Armstrong lacked the footspeed to get in on Whitaker consistently, given his jab, elusiveness, and ability to fight off the backfoot. The fact that he had excellent in-fighting skills would allow him to hold his own and tough it out in the instances where Armstrong was able to get inside. I think Pryor would make for a more difficult matchup because of his speed, though Armstrong's body attack was better than Pryor's.
Those are my reasons for picking him too. Only two lightweight I would favour over Pernell they are Duran and Armstrong I think he would beat the rest.
unrelenting pressure and stamina is tough to beat, and armstsrong had it naturally (pryors was contributed to by illegal stimulants). It would depend on whitakers own mental and physical toughness. He definitetly had the skills, and even though armstrong had a lot of wins he also had a lot of losses. I know that at least some of those losses were to men who did not rival pernells abilities. I think "sweet Pee" was tough enough and skilled enough to win a unanimous decision.
I like Armstrong via UD as well. If he constantly pressures Pea, Hank will force him to trade with him. Whitaker was tremendously skilled, but he won't best Armstrong on the inside.
