Boxing Legends Series | Pernell Sweet Pea Whitaker

steemsports (80)in #steemsports • 7 years ago

SteemSports Presenter:@brandonk

SteemSports Editor:@scottybuckets

The smoothest southpaw, and the sweetest pea of the bunch...that is the moniker given to Pernell Whitaker, and absolute legend of the boxing world. From the late 80's to the early 2000's, Whitaker was a beloved legend who blended style and technique in the ring with ease.

His lack of formulaic one two punches and emphasis on head movement and hip rotation made him one of the most entertaining pugilists of all times. Schooling the likes of Roger Mayweather early in his career set him apart from other new age boxers of the time, Sweet Pea was always destined for greatness.

Late 1993 brought his most memorable battle with the great Julio Cesar Chavez. The arguable greatest lightweight the boxing world had ever known fought one weight class above his own to take on Pernell. The fight ended in a draw, but the battle was so exciting and everlasting that people still talk about it today.

As a young boy, I watched this fight along with Pea's bout with De La Hoya much later in his career, and in my modest opinion he was robbed of a victory in both. Chavez Jr. was arguably a bit under sized, but Pernell was not expected to win the match by any means...but he dismantled Julio for a good 7 rounds with blinding lefts and amazing footwork.

This is the greatest southpaw of all time (sorry Pacquiao), no man has ever used his frame so deceptively to move in and out of the pocket. The counter left and flurry of Pernell put many a solid chin down, and he never refused a fire fight when his opponents wanted to truly engage his heart.

Pay no mind to the Trindad fight and a few scathing losses late in his career, this man was unstoppable in his era and simply didn't have a weight class exciting enough to give us a true super fight with him as side A. Pernell is an absolute boxing legend, and all of his highlights are worth a watch.