Pernell Whitaker: Most Underated Boxer on ESB By a Landslide

The Whitaker who fought De La Hoya was on a different level physically and mentally from the one who fought Trinidad. He had been inactive for 2 years and was regularly taking coke before the Trinidad fight. He admitted to being depressed after the De La Hoya fight and tested positive for it. De La Hoya fought a sharper Whitaker who stuck to his gameplan and looked like a fighter at the top of his game. He looked shot against Trinidad. His legs and reflexes were not what they were 2 years previously.

De La Hoya never fought a coked up Whitaker. Perhaps he did, but where is the evidence? He performed as well as a 33 year old Whitaker could at that age. Lets assume he was taking coke around the time of the De La Hoya fight, is someone going to tell me he would have fought even better if he wasn't abusing it before the fight.

 

I couldn't disagree more with this post. He is probably one of the most highly regarded fighters on the forum.

Sues2nd, Sweet_Scientist, SweetPea, Robbi, KG0208, Brooklyn1550 and a fair few other prominant posters on the site are massive advocates. To chose against Pea in a head 2 head match up on ESB is practically suicide. What made you think otherwise???

 

i always loved sweat pea.. he was one of the best pure boxers ive ever seen.. and that awkward southpaw style made him so hard to hit..

-truly one of the greatest of all time, and all the top guys he fought in his prime, he made them look foolish.. ie JCC..

i wish him and meldrick had met up tho at a catchweight be4 JCC got to meldrick

 

I dont understand.

Whitaker is very highly regarded on ESB.

Maybe not by the general sports public but on ESB he is ranked very high.

 

This is probably true. Should've been more of an appreciation thread than a thread on Pea being underrated, because he's one of the highest rated fighters on here.

 

I agre completely. Pernell Whitaker is knocking on the door of top 5 All Time Greatness. He was untouchable in his prime and could put combinations together as smooth as silk. Sweat Pea indeed.

 

Whitaker was the same to boxing as Pink Floyd were to music and Jimi Hendrix was to the guitar.


The man was a creative genius.

 

Ah a man who knows Pink Floyd

 

Whitaker's perfromance against Ramirez in their rematch is like what Dark Side of the Moon was to music. Sublime.

 

:rofl @ Whitaker punch Nelson behind his back @ 128

 

Whitaker used coke all through his career but I'd say it started to catch up to him about the time of the Vasquez fight. There is a clear drop off in level visible around that time. Subsequent fights against Jacobs, Rivera and Hurtado only made plain the obvious - he had lost a step.

Some of this was due to not being in shape, and not trainig like he used to, but it was the coke as well. Even when he trained hard e.g. the second Rivera fight, you could tell he was missing something.

He trained his butt off for DLH, and imo looked as good as he had a couple years earlier, but he still didn't recapture the welterweight peak form of the McGirt and Chavez fights.

After the DLH fight, what happened is that he became a full blown addict. Testing positive to coke against Pestriaev meant that he had been using coke probably the night before, if not the day he fought Perstriaev, and whilst he denied being on coke, he was booked into a rehab clinic not long after.

He never recaputred anything near the form he showed against DLH and Trinidad did indeed face the shell of the man - though with a fierce pride and beating heart still underneath the crumbling exterior.

 

And just to clarify: that is NOT a reference to Floyd Mayweather

 

Already tried that one and didn't get much of a reaction either

 

I thought of Floyd in the gladiator suit and the Pink gloves as soon as it was mentioned. To me, that was one of the most embarassing ring entrances ever, especially given the way he fought that night. Though he was pretty true to form in the post-fight press conference, shedding some tears

 

I thought Whitaker looked great against Vazquez and De La Hoya. And I personally thought his reflexes, speed, and overall skill set were just as good against De La Hoya when looking at his showing with Chavez. I think his speed against De La Hoya was certainly on par with what he showed against Chavez. IMO he was willing to get off with his punches with more substance against Chavez. Probably the tactial approach had something to do with it. De La Hoya had the reputation as a puncher around the time of the Whitaker fight and he certainly had the height and reach that Chavez never.

Yeah. I knew he was possibly tampering with coke around the mid-90's, but the De La Hoya defeat sent him spiralling downwards into a deep depression, thus becoming a full blown addict between the De La Hoya fight and the Trinidad encounter.

He looked a shell of himself against Trinidad.