Pernell Whitakker had far better footwork than any version of Floyd Mayweather.

[StillHereBro]

Ok, people talking about Whitaker slipping punches are talking nonsense. Footwork has nothing to do with upper body movement bar a slightly angled or wider stance to facilitate better balance or the punches angle<- if you think that is complex, you don't know ****. Whitaker can dodge punches in a pretty way up close but so can Joan Guzman. Is it incredible and amazing to watch? **** yeah, is it as effective as Floyd's defence even now that he's 37? NO , not a chance

[djtmal]

floyd is the poor man's version of pernell.

old, fat, coked out past prime whitaker outboxed and outclassed prime de lahoya. not a single scratch on his face.

prime floyd split decisioned a fat, out of shape, past prime coked out, fight once a year de la hoya and his faced was worse for the wear.

think about that.

pernell's higher punch output, greater athleticism, and worlds apart heart and courage would decision floyd in any division.

exactly......

not getting hit against the likes of baldimir is one thing, not getting hit against the likes of julio ceasar chavez sr. is another...

[JasonBoxing]

Thank you^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Its a BIG difference between Flash and True Defense.

The problem is many of you 'true defense' fans also discredit flash and mistakenly link it to 'showy and ineffective'.

Roy Jones Jr. is a perfect example of being underrated in terms of boxing skills due to his athleticism and flash. Many have suggested that Roy Jones was unskilled, unschooled, unintelligent, and simply relied on his athleticism. I couldn't disagree more. Simply because of the fact Roy Jones did not have a conventional guard, he is dismissed as not being a technician. Again, I must emphasize the distinction between being technical, and being conventional.

If one is purposefully and successfully deviant from the norm, it is not a technical deficiency, but an innovation. It is a tactical stylistic choice designed to bait and lure or confuse an opponent at an opportune moment. Roy Jones, despite having his hands low, kept a superb control of distance, knew to slip towards the outside of both hands and what counters best to use from such a position, feinted brilliantly, had great punching form, and could punch while pivoting to a new angle. You have to know the rules to be able to break them, and Roy's mastery of a number of overlooked fundamentals allowed him to break one and work wonders with it.

This is the same with Pernell in that the way he did things might not be as textbook beautiful as Floyd's but it is in many ways more difficult to implement simply because he interweaves flash,offense,and defense in a non text book like manner. That doesn't make him 'a show boat only'. Just because he doesn't look as textbook efficient as Floyd don't mean that he wasn't.

[JasonBoxing]

This. people have to face the fact that as good as Pernell was, he got hit way more than Floyd does. Floyd's defense is more effective thus you can argue that Floyd's footwork is "better".

No you can't. Because you have to take quality of opponents into account.
Look at Whitaker vs Chavez. Chavez's ability and presence in the ring needs little introduction, and was still largely intact despite being past his absolute physical peak as a fighter. Chavez can easily be called the best pressure-fighter of the modern era. It's not even out of the question for someone to persuasively argue that he had a defensive edge on the inside over Roberto Duran, one of the very best to ever don a pair of gloves. Despite being fresh off a career-long undefeated streak, having eliminated several champions and ranked contenders months prior, the Mexican GOAT could not do a thing to Pernell Whitaker, and there was one principal reason: his footwork.

it would be hard to deny the reality that every aspect of Whitakers performance against Chavez with respect to footwork was on a higher level than Floyd Mayweather ever did or had the opportunity to show. That fight was a classic textbook display of offensive VS defensive ring generalship, and personally, the best Ive ever seen. Whitaker's balance, punching form (with respect to his pivots), lateral steps, constantly-just-out-of-reach positioning, control of the center, in-and-out ambushing, and overall ring generalship shone brilliantly, and it shone brilliantly against a fighter whose ability is many times that of any single one of Floyd's opponents.

We can sit here and ooh and ahh at the way Floyd spins Maidana like a matador would a bull, or the way he out-runs Guerrero and neutralizes his jab while bolo-punching, or comprehensively outclasses Marquez like never before, and that's all well and good. But it simply doesn't measure up to so thoroughly out-boxing Julio Cesar Chavez in a frantically-paced contest for pound-for-pound supremacy. Some might say skills are skills and resume is resume, but skills mean nothing without historically acclaimed fighters with great stylistic prowess to test them against. And Whitaker has the clearly superior demonstration of footwork against the clearly superior opponent, in addition to a career-long demonstration of complete mastery of the craft.

[LouIE G]

i dont think he had better footwork, but i think pernells defense was better then floyds thats for sure....floyd makes you miss by bending down and using the shoulder roll, pernell made you miss by slipping, sliding and bobbing and weaving and doing so right in front of you..and to me thats a more impressive defense.

[SterlingStained]

exactly......

not getting hit against the likes of baldimir is one thing, not getting hit against the likes of julio ceasar chavez sr. is another...

lol floyd is suppose to be better than pernell but he cant even beat sr.'s sparring partner and needed two tries to do it lmfaaooo at these no nothing floyd fluffers.

[StillHereBro]

Great post! I'd green k you if I didn't already have given too much of them today, anyway.... first of all Mayweather feet used to be incredible, one of the very best, but Whitaker, along with Pep and Roy Jones are just a bit above all of them and there isn't no shame in that...
Mayweather prefer just to use the latteral movements to escape to the empty, free part of the ring and that's where his mission stops. His defense and offense are not that connected, while Whitaker loved the transition from defence to offense and was a master at angles, so instead of leaving his opponent feets/meters behind him with his latteral movements, he moved just a step or two to create an angle and attack them back.
Mayweather knows how to control the distance, and Whitaker was master at it too. He did it that well that he could do with ease the things the boxers aren't supposed to do in the gym today. He reminded me of Locche, who loved to circle to his left, to the power arm of his ortodox-stance opponents and never be touched by it because of how well he controlled the distance... well Whitakercould do the similar thing, only that being a southpaw, he circled to his left, the power hand of his ortodox-stance opponents and coudln't be caught... off course, he hasn't done it all the time but he could do it often.

You're neglecting Floyd's use of Lateral movement to set up offence ie his leaping left hooks like the ones that put Corrales down multiple times.

[HanzGruber]

floyd is the poor man's version of pernell.

old, fat, coked out past prime whitaker outboxed and outclassed prime de lahoya. not a single scratch on his face.

prime floyd split decisioned a fat, out of shape, past prime coked out, fight once a year de la hoya and his faced was worse for the wear.

think about that.

pernell's higher punch output, greater athleticism, and worlds apart heart and courage would decision floyd in any division.

lmao wtf, oscar UD pernell

[LouIE G]

You're neglecting Floyd's use of Lateral movement to set up offence ie his leaping left hooks like the ones that put Corrales down multiple times.

oh you mean his lead left hook?? tyson and mosely would do a leaping left hook.

[IronDanHamza]

Is this supposed to be an insult?

To have worse footwork than Whitaker?