Excellent competition. Whitaker was p4p the best - clearly for a couple of years. He would be tough in any era.
Chavez wasn`t great at welter, McGirt wasn`t great but it took a great performance to beat him, De La Hoya wasn`t great in his bout with Pernell but if you took strengths from each of these fighters that would make a great fighter. Pernell may have been more suited to another era because he would have had better opposition at lightweight where he was awesome and he wouldn`t have had to move up.
how can any argue with Pernell's resume. Ramirez, and beating him easily the next time. Beating Chavez,,, regardless of what they said. fought Oscar and Tito.. outclassing Nazario. Paez.
Very high level of opposition. I do wish he had fought Chavez earlier, though. Maybe around 1990 or 1991 at 140 lbs. He was still a little green when Chavez peaked at 135 lbs. in 1987-1988. It's possible he could have beaten Chavez even then, but I am quite sure he could have beaten Chavez by '90 at 140 lbs. That he lshould have gotten the decision against DeLa Hoya and pushed Felix Trinidad in the 96-97 time even while on the downside is testabment to how good he was. That he beat a very good guy JC Vasquez at 154 lbs was impressive. One note: The 135 lb division was better in the 1984-1987 time period before Whitaker peaked. If he had turned pro in say '82 and was acouple of years older, he would have faced tougher competition; A peaking JC Chavez, prime Edwin Rosario, better Jose Luis Ramirez A peaking Camacho Very solid Jimmy Paul, peaking Greg Haughen and solid Harry Arroyo.
Ramirez peaked around 83-84 and Chavez was a monster at 135 lbs. in '87-88. Never fought Rosario. Didn't have to deal with prime Camacho. Couldn't fight Meldrick Taylor because they were stable mates. By the time Pernell fought Ramirez in early '88 he was not as good as he had been when splitting fights with Rosario and losing to Camacho. Camacho totally schooling Ramirez in '85 was more impressive than Whitaker doing it in '89. As for Chavez, Pernell didn't fight him 'till '93 at 145 lbs (catchweight) Timing is important in matchups, as we know. Not just names. I'll add that Nazario wasn't that good. He had beaten a faded Rosario after a better version of Rosario had beaten him. Paez was better at 126 and 130. I actually think Freddie Pendleton, who Whitaker beat in '90 was a tougher fight for Pernell than either Nazario or Paez. Pendleton was extremely underrated because of a bad record, but had improved markedly and was a very rough customer by '90.
Didn't matter if he fought Ramirez, he was always going to win that fight. Whitaker as a terrible stylistic matchup for him. Chavez wasn't at this best weight, and slightly declining, but again, even earlier it would be Whitaker's fight to lose.