Because he never was the "Flavor of the Month" at anytime of his career. But if Arturo Gatti is in the IBHOF. He should be.
Thanks for the mention. My memory of Ramirez-Sweet Pea from when it happened was that Whitaker won. But when I looked back at it, Pea just wasn’t doing much a lot of the time. Looked like he had an eye on the clock waiting for class to end. Here’s my account. I invite anyone to look at it with fresh eyes and see how they score it: Jose Luis Ramirez (c) vs. Pernell Whitaker, scheduled for 12 rounds for the WBC lightweight championship at Stade de Levallos, Levallos-Perret, Hautz-de-Sienna, France. (That’s a mouthful.) This is Ramirez’s second defense of the vacant title he won from Terrence Alli. He has won 11 in a row. He weighs 135 and is 100-6. Whitaker is 134 1/4 and comes in 15-0. Battle of southpaws. 1. Whitaker 10-9: Some good body work. 2. Whitaker 10-9: Works his jab effectively and is just too slick, a ghost JLR cannot find in the dark. 3. Ramirez 10-9: More pressure, bigger shots, better jab. 4. Whitaker 10-9: Close. A yawner. 5. Ramirez 10-9: More clean shots from the champ and some good body work. He’s closing the distance and Pernell is more and more on his bicycle and punching less and less. 6. Ramirez 10-9: Effectively aggressive against an opponent who doesn’t look like he wants to fight. 7. Ramirez 10-9: Same, with JRL landing a few snappy, long lefts. 8. Ramirez 10-9: Same pattern but now Whitaker is turning his back and walking away. 9. Whitaker 10-9: Close. A few combos edge it. 10. Whitaker 10-9: Same thing, again close. 11. Ramirez 10-9: He worked three minutes. The other guy fought in spurts and his work wasn’t impressive enough to overcome the lesser workrate. 12. Even, 10-10: Whitaker planted his feet and landed a few nice combos, but he also ran and clinched, ran and clinched, and Ramirez gritted it out and kept punching. Depends on what you like. My card: 115-114 Ramirez. Official cards: 118-113 Ramirez, 116-115 Ramirez, 113-112 Whitaker. Flip around the close rounds and my card could be wider for Ramirez, but you could also give Whitaker the even round at the end. Pernell did a lot of things that probably didn’t win him favor with the judges. It’s hard to give a guy rounds when he turns his back and walks away repeatedly, when he does circles around the ring flicking a couple of non-punches and then ties up his opponent, when he grabs JLR around the lower legs at one point and does that ducking below the waist — mostly without bothering to throw a punch. The thing that’s hard to determine is how effective Whitaker’s jab was. I don’t think it was for the most part — there were a few nice spears here and there, but a lot of them go over JLR’s shoulder or head or are parried. I think Ramirez in a lot of stretches was the better defensive fighter (just not as slick about it, but good hand placement, parrying, slipping and blocking). Sometimes when Sweet Pea actually does throw a three- or four-punch combination (rare) he misses every one of them. So there you have it. I know a lot of people believe Whitaker won and I can believe that if you have it close, but in no way did he run away with this fight or come close to pitching a shutout. He mostly let it get away. Even if you don’t agree with the judges, I think if you watch it you can see how they got there just off Sweet Pea’s inactivity.
I agree. I recorded the ABC broadcast at the time but I wasn't home to watch it live. Someone told me Whitaker got robbed, and when I watched it I decided to score it myself. (Which I don't do anymore.) But it seemed the ABC guys were really amped for Whitaker and neglected to note much of the work Ramirez was doing. When Ramirez was named the winner, it seemed fine to me. Since then, seems like nobody really goes back, watches the fight, and is very objective about it. They know Whitaker lost, so they just focus on what Pernell was doing, not Ramirez. It's one of those fights where the commentary really impacts perception. I've been at fights where in the arena you see one guy winning. And you go home and watch a recording of the broadcast and they're calling it a totally different way. I think ESPN (with Joe Tessitore) added their own call to the tape like 20 years later, when they already knew who won, including mimicking the outrage when Ramirez got the verdict. It was a close fight. Either guy could've won. That night, the defending champ did.
I thought Whitaker clearly won it by 4 rounds, although Ramirez had a good stretch during middle rounds. I think with hindsight it was probably the best thint that happened to Whitaker, as he was scheduled to fight Chavez after which he wasn't ready for in all honesty. Whitaker improved as a fighter after the loss to Ramirez, and i feel like he truly reached his peak when he schooled Ramirez in the rematch.
I Agee. Whitaker in my opinion did win the fight.... But he didn't TAKE the title. As he did in the 2nd fight.
My score on the fight and what I wrote on it: Jose Luis Ramirez v Pernell Whitaker I Round 1: 10-9 Whitaker Round 2: 10-9 Whitaker Round 3: 10-10 Even Round 4: 10-9 Whitaker Round 5: 10-9 Ramirez Round 6: 10-9 Ramirez Round 7: 10-9 Ramirez Round 8: 10-9 Ramirez Round 9: 10-10 Even Round 10: 10-9 Ramirez Round 11: 10-9 Whitaker Round 12: 10-9 Whitaker Total: 115-115 Draw (actual scores: 118-113 and 116-115 both for Ramirez and a 117-113 for Whitaker for a split win for Ramirez) The first time I saw this live I didn't put pen to paper but thought half-heartedly, 'Yeah, Whitaker is probably going to get this but he doesn't deserve it.' I was amazed he didn't get the verdict but that was due to all the media hype on Whitaker, not for what went on in the ring. At the time, I just didn't feel like he won and that was down to the way the fight unfolded. Anyways, to clarify after watching this again, Whitaker boxed nicely early but by the time the middle of the fight came along he was quite literally running (I counted 5 times he actually turned his back and ran). This was not ring generalship. This was running and chasing. Now if he was at least firing while running I could make more of a case for him but Ramirez did far better on the chase than the announcing team gave him credit for. In fact, they gave him credit for nothing. I watched the telecast with Don Chevier (spelling) and Angelo Dundee. And you could not have found two bigger Pernell Whitaker cheerleaders than these two. Never once did I hear 'Good left hook by Ramirez' or 'Great pressure'. Nothing. However, they would acknowledge at the end of a round where they were lauding Whitaker's efforts, 'Ramirez likely took that round'. I was thinking, 'Really? You never said a thing what he did well.' I almost laughed out loud when one of them talked about Whitaker's 'wincing body shots'. Anyways, I felt Whitaker came off his bike somewhat those last two rounds to fight out of the pocket and took those rounds on my card. But I gotta say, zone out on the announcers and watch this for what actually occurs in the ring. I just don't see it as the robbery it is made out to be. One other thing, I never saw Whitaker fight this kind of running fight again, so he definitely learned from this and made him a better fighter.
