Henry Armstrong vs Pernell Whitaker

At what weight?

 

135-140 Armstrong! to much for Pernell

 

I don't know if he would put a beating on Pea but he would win. There never was a pressure fighter like him.

 

Armstrong.

 

Lesser fighters than Whitaker beat Armstrong... I'm not seeing this one sided affair nor a beating

 

At 15 rounds, Armstrong wins. His continuous offense neutralizes Pete's southpaw stance.

 

Armstrong? Damn. Thats a nightmare matchup for the Pea. The Pea could do a lot of things but Homicide Hank? No, Pea can't keep him off. Pea in trouble.

Armstrong wins a brutal 15 round decision and parties all night with Josephine Baker.

 

When you fight 20+ times in a year. The 27 Yankees lost about 50 games.

 

And at his peak between 1937 and the beginning of 1940, he barely lost at all. And not many fighters went the distance with him either. I'd pick Armstrong over Whitaker at any weight.

 

Great matchup.
Armstrong on split decision.

 

The problem there is, people want to put Armstrong prime into a bubble of only 3 years, and that simply isn't the true nor factual. Humans in general don't have a 3 year only peak physical prime, and the same is generally true for boxers. When looking and Armstrong's results, and it showed a clear decline, one could say he might be an exception, but that simply wasn't the case. Let's have a closer look...

In 1936, he certainly was close to prime and has losses to Richie Fontaine, Joe Conde, and Tony Chavez. Then he goes onto to lose to Zivic, Beau and Ambers... no shame there... as well as Joyce. Do you pick all of them to beat Whitaker? I don't buy the past his prime arguments much, since he turned around and beat Zivic and Joyce after the losses as well as other good fighters. He might not have been at his absolute zenith, but he was close enough to prime considering his wins during this same period. The point here is, we're talking about a prime Whitaker as well, somebody who looked every bit as dominate at his zenith. At his peak, he was foxy enough and fast enough on his bike to make it difficult for any fighter in history at LW to track him down consistently and get the better of the exchange when they did. Henry only knew how to fight one way, and while he was the best at it, I think he might need a little more to beat Pea. Pea was one of the best ring generals there has ever been, and that along with his jab and knowing what Henry is going to do will make for a great fight imo. Obviously Nelson isn't the same style as Henry or even caliber, but he's a damn good fighter who really tried to pressure Pea and tried to be right on top of him at all times. Pea's jab simply controlled the fight from the opening bell, it would also give Henry fits trying to track down Pea.

 

I'd favor Armstrong by decision. His insane workrate and pressure would offset Pea enough to earn him the chocolates imo.

 

These are some excellent points. Though I would pick Armstrong. Reason being is activity! Whitaker is a ATG , but in my opinion he didn't possess the power to keep a fighter like Armstrong off of him, and the pressure and pace Armstrong fought would keep Whitaker more defensive minded, thus it would lead to a split dec victory for Armstrong simply on being aggressive.

 

Armstrong's work rate and constant pressure would keep him in Pernell's face and taking the most of the rounds. Pernell will take some rounds though, out box him at times, and have some flashes of brilliance. Armstrong's style as a whole gives him the decision though.