Dream Fight Upsets II - Pernell Whittaker

[Counter-puncher]

Following on from my all-time great thread here...

http://boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f ... 7&start=25

I nominate Pernell Whittaker

Give me a fighter who is widely accepted as being not as good as Whittaker but who has a good chance of causing an upset.

Before the usual nonsense...they don't have to definitely beat him. You just have to form a decent argument is all...

Great premise, we all sit down here and offer definitive outcomes based off of resumes like they're etched in stone when all of us have been wrong week after week picking fights throughout our lives. Could Yuriorkis Gamboa beat Sal Sanchez? He damn sure could

Whitaker is a tough one at his best because he was damn near perfect. I don't think you're looking for an Ike Williams kind of answer, so I'm going to take a swing for the fences and say Ray Mancini. I actually never cheered for him, not sure why, but I think Mancini is really unappreciated. Nobody dismantled Ramirez as soundly as he did and even coming off a huge layoff he dealt with Camacho's feet and speed. I wouldn't bet on him, but I could envision a scenario where Ray gets a flash knockdown or two and presses the pace enough to get the nod.


Half on topic, my all time call is Witherspoon over Ali.

I'll add Buchanan and Castillo to those named already in the thread.

[King Carlos]

Buchanan would seem a good call, and I thought about it, but the Jim Watt fight sticks out in my mind. Ken looked like ass in that fight because he was getting repeatedly timed with the southpaw jab. Watt wasn't exactly the most versatile fighter, so Ken did what he had to do to get the win, but against Whitaker?

[Counter-puncher]

^^^^

Before the usual nonsense...they don't have to definitely beat him. You just have to form a decent argument is all...

yeah, i thought about the Watt fight, from memory Buchanan stood a lot more flatfooted in that fight than he normally would.

Watt's natural righthanded jab was stronger than Whittaker's I think, plus the way Whittaker fought at 135lbs, i don't think the fight would play out anything like Watt-Buchanan (which, admittedly, i haven't seen in ages). i think it'd be more a fencing match and I think Buchanan would do kay in that.

[King Carlos]

I don't think it was Buchanan standing flat footed so much as him being repeatedly stopped in his tracks by that impeccably placed jab. Watt timed it masterfully. But you're right, Whitaker wasn't the same sort of jabber or fighter in general as Watt, so it probably wouldn't play out the same way.

[Counter-puncher]

my (slightly hazy) memory has them standing in punching range the majority of the time and Buchanan moving distinctly less than was his normal style, couldn't figure out why a guy with such great footwork wouldn't choose to use it to try and get outside wat's lead foot (which he hardly seemed to do)

that said, Watt was an understated ring craftsman who often made people look 'worse' or fight a 'worse' fight than they did againt other guys.

[Counter-puncher]

i think Rosario and Laguna are my favourite calls so far

[SaadOffTheDeck]

I don't think Ken had enough variety to deal with Pernell's defense and underrated output. As many punches as Whitaker tossed you're looking at Buchanan out-boxing him and I really don't see that happening. Beating Whitaker is going to take some brute force unless you're Benny Leonard.

[Counter-puncher]

he outworked Laguna by throwing probably 70-80 punches a round, i think his output would be up there

[SaadOffTheDeck]

he outworked Laguna by throwing probably 70-80 punches a round, i think his output would be up there

Whitaker always threw that many punches, that's my point.