Recently saw a replay of this and was amazed at what I saw during the 12th round. In fact I had to rewind three times to make sure of what I'd seen. Pernell basically played Buddys head like a tom-tom drum for about a second with four quick shots, left-right-left-right all tapping down on the top of McGirts head. Buddy swung back hard and half connected but Pernell was so quick and audacious I didn't believe I had seen it. Any other moments like that that anyone can remember? Certainly didn't harm McGirt physically but the physcological edge gained by such a display could be hard to come back from.
There'd be many a moment like that in the 2nd Whitaker-Ramirez fight. He made him so many shots, at one point he made him miss about 5 or 6 punches in a row with slight shifts of his head. Its much worse IMO to miss completely then to have a shot blocked or deflected. Not only psychologically but its pretty tiring as you have to bring the arms back further.
Whitaker did the same move on Azumah Nelson in the third round, playing the pit-a-pat drum on the top of Nelson's head, and getting a bit of a laugh from the crowd. Whitaker was full of little ****y behaviour, humiliating his opponents. It was almost as if he preferred embarassing guys to putting a hurt on them, wanting to **** them up psychologically rather than physically.
I never really got to see many of Whitakers fights in Australia. Had to make do with reading about them in the Ring and KO, and while he seemed pretty slick I got the impression he wasn't much fun to watch. The few bouts I've seen of him recently have left me in awe. Will definitely start to track down more from now on.
McGirt I & II, Ben Baez (not a classic, I know), originally saw De La Hoya years ago, in fact the only fight of Pernells I saw live and remember thinking he'd done enough to win. There are some others but even looking at thatsitewiththefightersrecords I can't quite remember. Seems theres a healthy amount on youtube, yeah, would love to hear your suggestions. Will watch the Nelson fight, am still annoyed over Fenech-Nelson I so that should be some good therapy for me. The Ramirez fight, his first loss, was a bit of a poor decision? Seem to remember reading something along the lines that it was.
I share your feelings about Fenech-Nelson I. Jeff got bent over in that one. I'll put the Whitaker fights you should see in three categories: The Clinics Greg Haugen Jose Luis Ramirez II Azumah Nelson The Exciting Fights Roger Mayweather Diobelys Hurtado Felix Trinidad The robberies Jose Luis Ramirez I Julio Cesar Chavez
Brought out the finest in Camacho too. Ramirez was a very good platform for the extreme speed and skill of such guys whilst he could deeply worry fighters like Rosario and Arguello to name a couple.
I'll agree there. That Whitaker was arguably the greatest lightweight ever. He was at his peak mentally and physically.
