Pernell Whitaker above 135: Proof of Greatness

Whitaker was usually willing to mix it up with just about anyone. He just had it easier fighting his fight, which is why he typically fought in more of a pure-boxer mode. His inside skills were among the best I've seen though, from a technical standpoint.

 

Cheers Pea. The first half of the fight was rather close and Pea was getting in his good licks for sure.

I love Larry Merchant's quote during the 4th round of that fight:

"When a fighter who has won fights by his quickness and cleverness for most of his career matures and gets older you get a chance to see what he's made of, and we're seeing what Pernell Whitaker is made of as he goes RIGHT AT a younger, stronger, puncher."

Well said Larry. We DID see what Pernell was made of.

 

I don't think I'd rate any of them above him in that regard. To be completely honest, regardless of whether or not this is perceived as bias, I haven't seen a fighter on film I believe to be ahead of Whitaker in terms of boxing skill at their peak, though there have definitely been a few I've seen on the level, a few of which you just named. I'd put Whitaker on par with everyone on the above list, and probably everyone on the above list on par with Whitaker.

 

Whitaker is more skilled than all of them for mine, clearly. It's other facets like strength, speed and power that bring the others into contention for greater honours than him.

 

Ha ha.

Another Larry quote during Pea-McGirt:

"Very often, boxers are thought not to be tough people; Pernell Whitaker is tough people."

LOL, and Foreman chimes in with an "Amen!"

 

Interesting. I do get what you mean by other facets playing into their overall effectiveness, but I considered guys like Duran and Napoles at their best to be as skilled as I've ever seen.

 

To me they are close, but they aren't Pernell Whitaker skillful. I think Whitaker is more versatile with his skills than both, though Duran in particular is awfully close.

 

my favorite quote about pea from the hbo guys is from the first whitaker mcgirt fight when foreman says that pea is one of those little guys that walks into a bar and says ill fight anybody in here and lampley agrees and says yeah thats exactly the kind of consciousness whitaker has

i liked it when his meanness came out, i think a lot of people have this perception he was a slick boxer and he was the smoothest ever no question but the guy was a fighter first and foremost... he punished anthony jones and at the end of the hurtado fight, it was shades of griffith-paret

 

:good

Another HBO quote "When he met Evander Holyfield he looked him straight in the eye and said 'I'm not scared of you!'"

 

Sweet Pea was a absolute joy to watch in the ring a master boxer who gets often underrated and unfairly critized by the uninformed as a runner. The man is a legend and a top 10 ATG.

 

I don't think he's underrated at all by anyone who knows anything about boxing- Sweet Pea circlejerks much like this one outnumber the Runner crowd quite nicely, and even the people who don't like him rate him highly.

Then again, terms like underrated and overrated have completely make me cringe at their very mention because I think they're used too much in the wrong context, and are now being twisted into use as indicators of quality, which they're not. When it's not used in that way, it's used to set up a straw man for someone to argue against. Pea might not have gotten the proper exposure for parts of his career while he was fighting (probably because he was content with not KOing more fighters, and KO fighters typically get more exposure while they're fighting); but I've never met anyone who didn't speak highly of his fighting ability and skill.

This mini rant isn't directed towards you Pimp C, just venting in general since it's been bugging me lately. :thumbsup The main moral of the story: Any time I see multiple posts in a thread calling Sweet Pea underrated, I have to call BS on it.

 

Come on, I know you want to join the circlejerk

 

You know it brother! Whitaker's a true ATG in every sense of the word. :!: