Pernell Whitaker vs Floyd Mayweather at 147

Floyd has a 57% KO percentage above 140. Mayweather has 2 KO's in 4 fights at Welter. Whitaker had 4 in 5 years. 2 of which came against pure journeymen. The others, Hurtado and Rodriguez not exactly top challengers. Even Whitakers KO percentage at 135 isnt that great considering the guys he was fighting.

Floyd is most likely the bigger fighter no doubt. He has a 2 inch reach advantage and 2 inch heigh advantage. I would say he was mostly likely stronger aswell. Whitaker really didnt back Chavez down, he fought in the pocket, he would hit Chavez and Chavez would rightfully step back and try to dodge and rightfully so, unlike Hatton who was gonna take anything Floyd threw at him regardless whether it hurt or not, which led to him getting knocked out.

 

Pea's approach was never boring aside from certain early bouts in his career where he'd use excessive movement rather than economic movement, which he later corrected. Especially against a fighter he knows can't hurt him, and one that would undoubedtly bring out the best in him due to both of their out of the ring demeanors and arrogance. Pea went hard at more dangerous offensive fighters like McGirt and Chavez toward the middle of the bout, so what makes you think he'd lower his intensity/workrate against a fighter without the power neccessary to deter him?

 

thanks. ppl dont understand that floyd is gonna beat anyone at their own game

 

Floyd didnt have to adapt to either Hatton or Zab during the fight. If you listen to Roger Mayweather during both those fights.

"Keep pot shotting that muther****er'

"Keep walking his ass down, he doesnt wanna fight"

For Hatton the game plan was to pot shot him as he was coming in. Due to Hatton not moving his head while he was coming in. That didnt change the whole night. For Zab, the game plan was to walk him down and force him to fight. Most likely due to Zabs lack of mental dexterity.

He didnt need to adapt in either one of those fights. His gameplan was the same throughout. Remember Zab fights the first 1-3 rounds better then anyone who's ever been in the game. Hell he might be the best 1-3 round Welter in history lol.

 

close fight, but id go with whitaker by decision.

 

Considering the guys he was fighting? He faced more consistently good opposition at LW than Mayweather did from 130-140.

Most of Floyd's stoppages are of the TKO variety, due to accumulation of punishment, etc. Rarely if ever did he show power like Pea did in fights with Hurtado, Nazario, Lomeli, etc. Pea was just more of a pure boxing stylist than Floyd at the lower weights, who was more of a boxer-puncher, but when he decided to sit down on his punches they could be devastating.

Untrue, he had Chavez backing up from the body beating he was taking. He was clearly hurt at seperate points during the 7th and 8th rounds when Whitaker was delivering the beating to the body.

Another example would be his fights with McGirt, a bigger, stronger, more powerful fighter than Floyd that Pea beat up on the inside and eventually broke down in their rematch, after out-boxing him in another brilliant affair in their first fight. I've not seen Floyd do inside work like that outside of certain points in the Hatton fight against a fighter who was really poorly skilled in close without the use of his typical roughing tactics. But never did he go at fighters like McGirt the way Pea did.

 

He lost 3 of the first 4 rounds to Zab, a headcase who has always faded late in fights and did the same against Floyd. Against Hatton he didn't start dominating until the later rounds, even if he was edging most of the early ones. He did too much hanging out on the ropes, which would not be a wise move against an actual skilled inside fighter.

To point it out, the fact that you're saying he doesn't adapt limits his chances even further against Pea if that's what you believe.

 

Is there ANY matchup all-time where you would pick against Mayweather?

 

In your humble opinion. Fair enough.

 

Nelson, Haugen, Ramirez. In comparison, to Chico, Castillo, Chavez, Carlos and Genaro Hernandez. With guys like Manfredy, Corley, and Gatti intersperced betweem. Between Pea's big fights at the lower weights his fights were against journeymen or guys that fought journeymen.

Where are Pernell's stoppages by TKO then? Where did he beat guys off of accumulation of damage? If the fighter stops because of accumulation of damage, that must mean the other guy is hurting him.

N'dou, Mitchell, Bruseles were one punch KO's, and he dropped a guy like Chico 5 times.

Floyd had Hatton backing up a few times when they fought, mostly because of damage being sustained. But Hatton was more of a deliberate fighter then Chavez, Hatton was coming in at all costs. That was his gameplan he had adapted since fighting Zoo.

Never? Jesus Chavez and Castillo 1 comes to my mind. 2 excellent inside fighters. Zab also comes to mind, but while I wouldnt call him an excellent inside fighter, Floyd did walk a faster opponent down and beat him until he mentally gave up.

 

That was pasrt of the gameplan for Floyd. The gameplan was let him come out, do his thing, get tired, so Floyd could operate

 

Anyone, huh?

 

And as I said, you take the first 3 rounds of any Zab fight and you'll think he's the 2nd coming. Zab is amazingly talented.

However, Zab didnt win another round for the rest of the fight, and struggled to land a clean punch. Floyd was even landing first against the faster Zab. Largely due to Floyds defense and walking him down, which was his gameplan throughout the start of the fight. You said he had to adapt, Floyd didnt have to adapt.

Floyd goes to the ropes because thats how he fights. He fights his best off the ropes. Nobody forces Floyd to the ropes, he's comfortable their because he's been whooping ass fighting off the ropes his whole career. Floyd was drawing Hatton into that check hook against the ropes the whole night. Again, you underestimate how cerebral Floyd is. While Whitaker was more naturally gifted, do you think he was more deliberate and calculated as Floyd when he fought?

As for not working against a skilled inside fighter, if Oscar at 154 couldnt touch Floyd against the ropes, and almost got knocked out getting caught by one of Floyds counter lefts coming in to a Floyd fighting off the ropes, how do you know anyone else could have exploited Floyd for his penchant for fighting against the ropes.

No, what Im saying is he didnt have to adapt during those fights, not that he cant adapt. He happens to have a great trainer who has a gameplan that works before every fight. And Floyd is a fighter that can execute perfectly because he also knows the game well. This is a guy for all his false brashness is studying Leonard tapes and telling Leonard to his face how he would beat him. Even if he couldnt, the fact that he noticed flaws in Leonards style is proof enough how smart he is as a fighter.

 

yes, ANYONE

 

He wouldn't beat Hearns at his game. :bart