Was Pernell Whitakers Power Underrated?

Pernell was great but the man had 17 KOs in 45 fights. Sweet Pea could show power but it wasn't his game in any way, shape or form. I think his power is rated appropriately.

 

His power is rated as it should be. He wasn't a huge heavy hitter but he was no pillow puncher either. Even though his style wasn’t to knock the opponent out he was still a sharp stinging hitter who can hurt opponents badly with punches they don’t see coming. His stoppage of Juan Nazario and Disobelys Hurtado are good examples of how damaging he can be when he sat down on his punches.

 

Whitakers power wasn't that great. Average at best.
But what he did do, his forte, was the element of surprise. Hitting opponents cleanly from odd , unexpected angles, tremendous countering ability because of his excellent speed, timing and reflexes.
In his prime, his ko's happened because the opponents couldn't adjust to that unique quickness he possed. And couldn't find sparring partners that could mimic it.
The punches one doesn't see, can be just as painful as the ones coming from a much harder puncher, but can be seen coming.
That's what was Whitaker's strength. His ability to hit opponents when they least expected, from angles and with a suddenness impossible to prepare for.

 

No, let’s not rewrite history

 

If you're Bert Sugar hyperbolic about it, in the negative, sure, it's underrated. Guys with a good chin knew they weren't out of danger with him, for the most part. He and someone like Tim Bradley probably have similar power at welterweight. Nobody thinks they're Hearns, nobody even thinks they're Cotto, but they respect the return fire.

 

His KO percentage is a little misleading though. Look at his resume and see how from almost the very start of his career, he was fighting high-quality opposition. It's just harder to knock out guys like that. If he'd been fighting Nazarios and Lomelis for a while at the start of his career, he'd be thought of a bit differently.

Not a huge banger, but you couldn't just try to walk through his shots either.

 

And Sweet Pea was not just good at that---he was great at it. Just think of how many other guys could have used that element in their game.

 

Nice post . Agreed. You can see the power to the body against Chavez a bit..

 

X2 couldn't have said it better myself.

Pernell may not have been much of a puncher, but he was physically very strong for his size and could not be bullied around by anyone.

 

He wasn't Paulie Malignaggi. He had a more than that, but his power was average and rated appropriately as others have stated.

 

I'd be willing to wager he hit a little bit harder than most would think.

 

He wasn’t a big puncher, but did have some power in that left hand when he loaded up on it.

Unified the LW title with a single left hand, turned the Hurtado fight with his left, buckled JCC in the 8th round.

 

Whitaker was a hell of a fighter as mentioned brilliantly by Flash24 but at lightweight he could dig a bit.

He had the tough Haugen down, destroyed Lomeli and Nazario with one punch, massacred solid Miguel Santana and faced iron chinned fighters like José Luis Ramirez, Jorge Paez, Azumah Nelson and future champion Freddie Pendleton.

Spain´s Poli Diaz was one tough (and crazy, currently in jail) nut too.

Had he fought more fragile lightweights his ko percentage would be higher.

 

This. And he had that sneaky left that shook opponents.