Where do you rank Pernell Whitaker?

Certainly a top 10 Lightweight Champion of All Time IMO. He didn't face the best opp. at `35 but he was dominant which is all you can ask of a champion. He also defeated a great albeit smaller champion moving up in Azumah Nelson. Again he dominated him. There was a time that you could count the rounds Whitaker lost on 1 hand.

He made a brief stop at `40 and I remember a fight with Harold Brazier {a journeymen}. It was boxing perfection. He literally picked Brazier apart in such a manner that I`ll never forget watching it. It was a gifted legendary boxer at the top of his game. His win over Chavez is a little convoluted because they met at `47. Julio barley made `42. In a perfect world the fight would've happened at `40.

As a Welterweight Sweet Pea was still dominating when he beat McGirt 2X. Not an easy fighter to beat. Buddy had beaten the feared slugger Simon Brown in impressive fashion. I tend to remember Pea`s fight against Santo Cardona as maybe the last fight of his "prime". I don't think Pea was ever the same guy I remember after this bout which I actually listened to on radio.

The Hurtado fight was a nice comeback win. He had a couple of fights against Rivera who I believe Pea would have toyed with had he been clean and on his game. I don't think Oscar did enough to take Pea`s title. Probably should've been a draw.

I have Sweet Pea as a Very good and formidable Welterweight for the time he was still focused and clean. Not a great one though. I don't think he had the size to beat some of the greatest `47lbers. Probably not top 10.

 

Tough question...

AT LW I have him top 3 some days and top 5 others. The reason being, he didn't beat the best LW crop, but he dominated the ones he did face, and I also rate highly on h2h as well as resume. So h2h, I only have Duran ahead of him at LW

@140 His time there was too brief for me to rate him, but again, h2h, he'd be a force IMO

@147, again he was past his best, so he's difficult to judge at that weight. He obviously wouldn't be Top 10 based on his resume there, but I suspect he'd beat or give a tough go to most everybody ahead of him. I base this off of him beating (imo) a prime Hoya. Hoya was great at this weight, and smack dab in the middle of his prime, and a past his prime/coke'd out Whitaker imo beat him. This gives me confidence in thinking he'd beat some fighters rated ahead of him at this weight.

People now days don't remember how dominating Whitaker was in his prime. There was literally a hand full of rounds he lost over the course of years, while fighting the best. He didn't duck people, and imposed his style on his foe. No matter how great the foe was, Whitaker imposed his will on the fight.

 

He's completely outsized against the klit brothers.

He has no chance.

 

After Flash24 lays out how many wins and how many titles an opponent has to win post-losing-to-great to be considered a "decent win" ... in the Mayweather thread, I'll let you know.

But just glancing at the post-Whitaker records of guys like Jose Luis Ramirez, Azumah Nelson and Greg Haugen ... it doesn't look good.

 

Very highly when it comes to skill.

The one thing I ADORED about Pea's style was that he made his defence his offence. You missed, you paid.

That's why I loved Toney, too. With Floyd, if you miss then you miss. Hate that.

 

A very underated body puncher In my view. Whitaker didn't score that many KO`s but he did score some knockdowns with his bodypunching.

I forgot to mention his fight against Rafael Pinada at `140 lbs. This may be a forgotten performance but Pinada just just got through KOing Roger Mayweather with one vicious left hook. It was a good matchup with Sweet Pea but Pernell just took him apart standing right in front of him and put him on the canvas.

 

His resume is very overrated as people don't realize Chavez and Nelson were fighting above their weight classes.

I would rank him 13 or 14 in the last 30 years right next to Winky Wright

 

H2H he's right near the top at 135.

Resume is thin for a guy held in his regard. His lack of dedication hurt him. He could have vindicated himself had he beaten Oscar, but I think he rightfully lost and I don't give too many points for close loses.

Chavez was also on the way out when that fight happened, although it was less aparrent going in.

 

I feel Whitaker was much quicker at 135lbs, his fight at 140lbs vs Pinaeda was a much better performance than the Brazier fight but he got caught early on more in that fight than he did in his best 135lbs performances though Nelson did a lot better than most of his lightweight foes. How do you think Whitaker compared to Floyd vs De La Hoya?

 

Well he fought a much superior version of Oscar compared to Mayweather. They were both close fights. I don't think either DelaHoya or Whitaker did enough to win their fight. Sweet Pea did manage to frustrate DelaHoya but he didn't capitalize on it as much as he hoped to.

 

I wouldn't scoff at someone having him top 20 P4P and top 5 at 135.

 

The Ring also considered Floyd to be the best fighter on the planet from 2012 until whenever he retired in 2015 and from 2005-2007. He was number two in four other years.