Whitaker vs Duran @ lightweight

[ICB]

Well, I'll first let the people who do not know I am the #1 Duran fan on here read this and move on...

Duran had a way of muscling his opponents into a different kind of fight than they were ready for (at LW). It's like they watch the tapes, they heard about the game, but it made fighters break down their game plan in short time. Duran stalks, yes, but he also hit you in the arms, chest, neck, and if you were lucky enough he'd hit you on the chin. He kissed the canvas quite a few times in his career at lightweight, too.

Whittaker had lightning fast reflexes. My favorite was when he would squat almost to the canvas articulate his head like it's a bobble head and *BAM*. He didn't exactly have a punch, but he had an arsenal, and he was in the best shape humanly possible.

Duran takes the fight to Whittaker and takes control by the 3rd round. Whittaker would surely make a mid-fight surge, but Duran puts the pedal back to the floor to take the decision. It's one thing to back up and win a fight, but Whittaker wouldn't be able to keep Duran honest. Whittaker would SURELY have his moments, and maybe even a KD early.

115-112 Duran

or

144-141 Duran... for those who remembered this would be a 15-rd fight

Pernell Whitaker could actually punch, its just he often boxed on the backfoot. And you obviously can't get full power when your on the backfoot. Watch his KO of Disobelys Hurtado when he had to come forward, and tell me he can't punch.

He also stunned JCC a few times, and watch his single shot knockdown of Wilfredo Rivera. There's many other examples but i don't feel like going into all of them.

Im not saying he was a devastating puncher, but his KO record is misleading. Because as i said he often just wanted to box on the backfoot and cruise to an easy UD victory.

You also have to take into account the opposition, i mean its hard to stop fighters like.

Wilfredo Rivera
Felix Trinidad
ODLH
Julio Cesar Chavez
Azumah Nelson
Greg Haugen
Rafael Pineda
Jorge Paez
Jose Luis Ramirez
Buddy McGirt
Julio Cesar Vasquez

And most of these fighters were at there peak when Pernell Whitaker fought them, i mean atleast 6 fighters on that list had great chins. Whilst the others were also pretty tough customers, its hard to have a high KO record when you face opposition like that.