I was reading about Whitaker and he talked about Floyd. He said, "He is good. He has skills, but he is no Pernell Whitaker."

Do you guys believe this to be true? I think Whitaker would dominate Mayweather and win a 8-4 or better decision. Mayweather never truly beat any greats at 147, nor was he really tested. Whitaker had that tremendous performance against Chavez which was ruled a draw. He also had a few uneven performances at the end of his career at 147 when he was delving into cocaine.

The Whitaker from Chavez and before beats Mayweather easily. The Whitaker post-cokehead probably gets his ass beat pretty badly.

Why easily?

I think Mayweather was a shade faster with his hands than Pernell was and Whitaker`s punches were a little wider. They both had terrific defenses and this fight would be hard to watch.

Overall I like Mayweather`s skills over Whitaker`s though Pernell had more of a desire to be great maybe more heart...cant say for sure. Mayweather`s heart wasnt tested that much. We didnt really know how much heart Pea had until Tito wrecked him.

I remember Pea was on ESPNEWS last year when he got inducted into the HOF, the host was asking him how he would do against Duran (to which he replied humbly, I'd be the underdog, but I'd never count myself out, either way, it's a great fight) and Mayweather. When the guy asked him how he would do against Mayweather, Pea looked at him incredulously and said, roughly, "How would I do against Floyd? The question should be, how would Floyd do against me. I dunno, I'd probably let him carry my bags to the gym, I guess." I was rolling.

Anyway, I like Pea. Like ETM said, we don't know how Mayweather at 147 would react to adversity, while we saw old Pea absolutely bring the beast out at times when he absolutely had to, like the Hurtado fight. He also fought much better competition over a more consistent period. So for sure, Pea has the advantage in heart and will.

Mayweather is bigger and longer than Pea though and just as fast, if not faster, but I'm curious how well he would do against a legitimate master of mindgames like Whitaker. Southpaws seem to be tricker for Mayweather and quite simply, there may have been no better southpaw than Pernell Whitaker.

So I take Pea by close, tactical decision, 115-113 or 116-112. If there's anyone who would land on Mayweather, it would most definitely be Pea, though it wouldn't exactly be anything earth-rattling, that's for sure.

Hidden classic Pernell Whitaker on the rise in the lightweight division against a guy and experianced Uncle.

Pea/Uncle

Pernell pulls his trunks down so Uncle decks him.

Pernell threw more punches, a lot more. In a fight where both guys would miss more than they landed whitaker's activity combined with his superior jab leads him to a close decision win. There wouldn't be anything easy about it. Floyd's lead right would have the potential to generate flash knockdowns.

Actually I take that back this would probably be a fun fight to watch these guys match skills but also they both are winners so the comeptitive fire would be there.

Whitaker showed enough heart against Hurtado for two careers.

This could be a boring fight in terms of action. However, I don't alway need action packed fight to get excited. To me, it's more about the magnitude and meaning of the match up. From those respect, I think tis matchup will be exciting no matter if they trade 10 punches per round or 100 punches. I'm just curious what tactics they would use to penetrate each other's defense.

It's a close fight, be it at Light or Welterweight, but Whitaker edges him (& I do mean, 'edges.') If Whitaker truly believes he's as far ahead of a peak Mayweather as his words seem to intimate, he should get off the coke.

Mayweather is a straighter puncher, a harder hitter, &, for mine, quicker with his hands, to boot. Where Whitaker's advantages will lie are in his less conventional defense (Mayweather, as brilliant a defensive fighter as he rightly is, is so in the conventional manner. Whitaker's moves made your head spin, & the southpaw stance is, IMO another advantage.)

Whitaker surely faced superior opposition, which doesn't hurt his claim, either. I like Whitaker over Duran at Lightweight, too, incidentally. This, though, at any weight, is tight, tactical, &, IMO, exciting, no matter what the knockout-craving, beer-swilling masses may argue.

Whitaker is a southpaw and Mayweather seems to have certain difficulties dealing with them.

you'd have a fight with both guys waiting to counterpunch and missing everything. shit, there probably wouldn't be 30 punches landed all together the whole fight. the fans would be bored, the ref would fake an injury just to get out of it and the judges would be sleep. having said that, i think sweet pea ducks more punches than floyd and wins by a point in a bout with a lot of even rounds.

When did Whitaker wait to counter punch? He was more a lead fighter.

against dlh, after he got tagged against tito, spots in the hurtado fight(ok ok,i know he was older in those fights) being that floyd would be bigger, hits harder, and is just as good defensively, i don't think sweet pea would be stalking him around the ring like he did jake rodriguez. but hey, maybe he'd shock us.

I wouldn't be surprised if these two had more of a mix up than people think at one point. As the rounds pass and they realize not much separates them on a round by round basis and what happens sometimes is one of them takes the fight to another plane trying to distinguish himself there and the other guy responds in the same manner.

K X P

That's what separates the two, thus far. Whitaker would do everything he could to win if the fight was in doubt. There was a beast inside Pea that I haven't seen from Mayweather.

And that would play into Money's advantage, imo.

Whoever plays the role of aggressor most likely loses. Whitaker would have a chance with that style. Not Floyd, imo

He wasn't a counter puncher Rudy. He was a come forward fighter that wrecked the body, all the way back to his amateur days. Whitaker was certainly capable of counter punching, but it wasn't his preference.

He threw about 150 more punches than Oscar did. How was he sitting back and waiting? Is that possible?

He was walking straight into Tito's shit all night and he hunted Hurtado down and KHTFO.

Mayweather really has not had a fighter force him to bring the beast out in him per se. JLC pushed him and he did what he needed to to but standing and trading with JLC would not have been a great option. Id say Hatton brought it out in him a bit. Ricky swarmed him, tried to rough him up etc and caught a beating int he second half of the fight for it. If floyd fights shane we will probally see a part of floyd we have not seen if Floyd is to stay undefeated. Cause Shane is not going to stop coming and i dont think floyd can hurt shane

I just cannot see Pernell losing to Floyd. Although i admit it may be one of those "because hes from back in the day he seemed tougher kinda things"..........Pea just seemed a little badder in the ring than Floyd.

The way he would so quickly duck and throw that wide left hook, throw two straight punches down the pipe then roll, all the while setting up that left again, WHILE STILL staying attacking the body with perfectly accurate shots to the top of the hip/ lower stomach.

I know Floyd is really good, but Pernell got shit done. For everyone saying it would be an ugly fight, it probably would. But you never know. Floyd is a master at making adjustments to people midfight, but Pernell could frustrate people JUST like Floyd. Only Pernell stayed much more into the body than Floyd did. I could see him showing us something weve never seen before in that Floyd would have to focus more on covering his bruised hips and lower stomach up after about 5 or 6.


I say Pea but not by much. SD.

The only thing I can say for sure is that it would be a great exhibition of boxing skills on both sides. Slipping, countering, rolling, pinpoint punching. It would be a sight.

Whitaker was on coke right thru his olympic days, it means nothing. Just shows what a great fighter Pernell was

I don't think either fighter wins this "easily."

I keep thinking Whitaker's defense was better but I don't know if that's just because his moves just looked so much more impressive. I definitely think he would be the aggressor in this fight, and while that would create openings for Floyd, it would also score Pea points for activity.

One thing, I think Floyd would've had some success with his straight right hand.

I guess I'll wait to see Floyd fight Shane or the winner of Pac-Cotto before making any proclamations here.

I just think PBF has the edge at 147.