We saw how a shot Whitaker did against Trinidad in 1999. Well, how would the fight have gone 5 years earlier?
Whitaker by split decision. Edit - Pea clearly wins the fight, the judges have it closer then it really was with one scoring it for Tito.
Pernell by decision. He had the legs to give Trinidad good angles. The older Whitaker stood in front of Tito too much.
Whitaker by comfortable if not wide verdict. There's a reason the deranged Don Felix steered his boy hemisphere's away - for years - from Whitaker...feeding him lightweight and junior welterweight retread after retread.
I was watching their fight the other day and thinking about this. While Whitaker was obviously the greater fighter historically, and better p4p, a fight between the two in 1994/95 would have been very interesting. Trinidad enjoyed a sizable advantage in height of about 4-5 inches and reach of about 3-4 inches. I wouldn't say Whitaker was "vulnerable" to any punch, but the punch he was most susceptible to was the straight right. Tito had a good, long straight right hand. The aggressive strategy by Whitaker was interesting. Perhaps Whitaker's camp felt that at this stage in his career, Whitaker wasn't going to be able to box and use movement and win a decision against Trinidad? Or maybe still worried about not getting the benefit of the doubt from the judges, since they gave Oscar 9 of the 12 rounds against Whitaker (different state commissions though) Trinidad was a little lighter on his feet in these days and less of a plodder who fell in love with his power. I liked the way he boxed against Carr, particularly in how be picked his shots well. Still, needless to say, Whitaker had the better footwork. Whitaker was absolutely brilliant at using angles, often in unusually ways. He managed to be unorthodox but not technically unsound. I think his footwork and angles would be key, as well as his brilliant jab and overlooked body punching. I don't think this would be an easy fight for the reasons mentioned above, but Whitaker captures a 7-5, 8-4 type decision.
