Tito beat the 💩 out of him, he even sat down twice. Don't come with the excuse that SweetPea was out of training stuff. It is old theme. No one believes it.
I've said this before....this is Pernell's One and only real loss... All his other losses were fixed against him..past his prime and too small for a gunslinger like Trinidad R.I.P Sweet Pea Such a privilege to grow up in your era...even got to see you live in NYC when you fought McGirt Spectacular Defence
Great fighter. I don’t think he would have beaten Buddy who gave Whitaker one of his single toughest fights with 1 arm. Buddy’s hook was key to his Arsenal and I had Whitaker winning the first fight by 1 round.
@@seanmcaddle6121 I agree Buddy wasn't 100% that night I'm surprised the fight wasn't postponed..clearly Buddy was at a disadvantage and Pernell fought at a lower level than he was capable of...he pretty much entered the ring with a minimal risk attitude and did just enough to win..I was glad to finally see Sweet Pea live ..but by no means was this his best performance
It's so hard for me to accept that Pernell is no longer with us. Very hard to believe. RIP Pernell Whitaker, you were a great fighter and you have fans who will never forget you.
I once met him at a Rite Aid drug store in Chesapeake,VA He was a very polite guy. I spoke to him "Hey Sweetpea Whittaker" and he replied "Hey, how are you doing." He was buying something for his mom Rest in Heaven ✨ Sweetpea Whittaker ✝️✝️✝️🙏🏽
Sweet memories of sweepea R.I.P. Even though he lost this fight he put on a very very good show and let Tito knows that he wasn't going quitely! Thanks for the memories Pernell,you were great!!! Your brilliant performance against the then unbeaten Julio Chavez will always be a real boxing treat to all boxing fans!
@@pedrogamboa3530 Whitaker wasn't one of them. He had already been p4p king from '93-'97 and had already jumped up to grab the Jr. MIDDLEWEIGHT title before this to make him a 4 division champion. He was done fighting at that level.
Amen to that, shout out to Tuesday Night Fights on USA for introducing me to Mr. Pernell "Sweet Pea" Whitaker. An outstanding fighter who exhuded class.
I attended this fight. This was Whitaker's first true loss. Over the hill, and fighting his personal demons, he brought FURY to a young champ. RIP Pete. Thanks for giving me a lifetime memory that night. I remember your walk from the ring when you stopped and shouted out to your fans before going into the underpass. I remember it like it was yesterday. I'll never forget that moment. Thank you.
Sidney Lordjones so u mean to tell me whitineker is top 5 but tito isn’t ??? Tito never got beat at welterweight he fought the biggest name also unified and have 3 gold medalist under his belt what u mean 😩😩🤔tito always got hated by Mexicans and black because indeed he was whooping ass and Tito is very hittible and always fight moving forward so no excuse
Sidney Lordjones just go to his fight and watch how the comentators speak about him what do u mean 😩😩 tito never got the credit he deserve for and not by the fighters and boxing analysts but more from fans like I said he was hated by black community and the Mexican community because of the whooping he was giving around it wasn’t till he move up to 160 and try to UNIFY that division too where he finally lost to hopkin Tito wasn’t the most athletic guy or the fastes puncher or even the best defensive of chin but guess what he was rocking everyone the hook and also fighting all the the champs and top 3 rank fighterin the division if u don’t got tito as one the best 10 welterweight of the last couple decades u ignorant to the sport you don’t become a house hold name the cash cow of Don King being just a regular B+ o C fighter never my nigga just check the stats what fighters have the most defensive title fight at welterght from 90s to now I bet whitineker ain’t even top 5 🤔😩
Sidney Lordjones now again ain’t taking anything away from whitineker but if u got him up there as CHAMPION then u have to have Tito too because the stats don’t lie bro now if u want to talk about skill and all of that as fighter not the record then that’s another thing it is why bernell is considere one of the best ever because of his athelethism and his defense not because of his record and the ppl he beat 🤔
Julio Robles agreed. Back in the day, they’d say who they wanted to fight right then and there. Now these scared dudes tryna hide behind contracts/promoters.
Whitaker was 35 here, but he still showed a lot of flashes. But I think Tito's height and reach, and underrated hand speed would always be problematic for Sweet Pea. Whitaker's best days were actually BELOW 147 lbs. At 135 and 140, he enjoyed his best moments. Would have been a close fight between these 2 at any other time a 147.
Pernell had to change his style for this fight being past his peak at 35 and still did well. Not to mention he was the smaller fighter looking like he was fighting someone in a higher weight class. I give Pernell his due. Good career and went out pretty well.
This will always be one of my favorite pernell fights. Its the only fight where he was in with someone better, and he therefore got to display 100% of his heart. Tito was bigger, younger, faster, with a deadly punch AND was in his prime, and pernell went right after him from the start , then fought with a broken jaw for half the fight, and even then, he was still swinging for the fences trying to win. He took his beating like a man, just like all the greats before him did. And tito still couldnt knock him out. He knocked out middleweights. He knocked out yory boy campos, fernando vargas, and william joppy. De la hoya stayed on his bicycle for all 12 rounds to avoid titos power. And heres pernell, willingly engaging in a firefight with one of the deadliest punchers of that era, and he still finished. Hats off to sweet pea. R.i.p., pete.
@@ziggyc4474 Did he ko’d him while he was in the ground 3x in the first round. He was lucky he came out of that 1st round alive. Those were all on the chin!!!
@@anactaneustheeleventh2542Tito even beat the 💩 out of Oscar dela Joya...kept him pedaling his bycicle all 12 rounds. But ziggyboofon didn't see that fight while Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles both saw it.
As a Puerto Rican and HUGE Felix Trinidad fan, I wanna thank the Legendary Sweet Pea for this great fight, and true WARRIOR'S HEART! #RipSweetPea #BoxingLegend
14 1/2 years for PW after winning Gold Medal in LA Olympic Games , RIP/DEP Tito beat three Gold medal winners in his career; PW, ODLH and DR, amazing Champion from Puerto Rico 🇵🇷
One of the greatest of all time. You proved your talent and heart years before the Trinidad fight. REST IN POWER AND PARADISE PERNELL "SWEET PEA" WHITAKER
So much respect for Whitaker for how he hung in during this fight. We never saw what an incredibly tough SOB he was before because nobody could touch him, but he showed it this night, and gave prime Tito some real competition.
Whittaker was fighting dirty the entire after tito dropped sweet pea in the 2nd round. Whittaker didn't want no part of tito's power shots. Whittaker basically took pages out of chavez 's Sr cheat book. Every time Whittaker knelt down or sat down it should of been a knock down. And the time tito went down ( it was Whittaker jumping over a off balanced tito to try and land a body shot and push tito down. But Whittaker body punch actually landed on tito's leg. I like Whittaker though , and he did give tito a good challenging fight. Tito did make a lot of mistakes in this fight. IF tito's corner would of actually pointed out the corrections needing to be made then I believe tito may have been about to get a knockout. JUST my opinion though. Anyways ... This was a good fight to watch.
Isn't it something how a YOUNG, PRIME Fernando Vargas got knocked out by Trinidad and an old, junkie Whitaker made it to the final bell? You have to give Pernell credit for that...
here is a 35 year old lightweight fighting a prime 26 year old explosive & one of the hardest hitting welterweights in history. For Pernell to fight this well showed just how great of a fighter he was. He had no superior punching power, yet he would stay in the pocket with much bigger fighters. He just was doing a little too much going against sledgehammer tito.
He beat Oscar fair and square in a pretty uneventful affair. Oscar hardly landed a clean punch all night. The fix was in from the start on that. It was already decided Oscar would be boxing's new cash cow. For those who remember, that was how Al Bernstein got fired from ESPN, because he went on camera and called out the farce of a decision for what it was. He did lose his last fight for real, if I recall correctly he retired due to injury, but he was a shell of his former self
I love that adjustment Tito made in round 2, Pernell wasn't moving his head so he threw a straight right upstairs, downstairs then threw it right down the middle...boom!
One thing I'm know about this dude Parnell Withaker .....dude never ducked anyone. He fought who ever was in front of him. And TiTo........what can we say, Boxers Feard Trinidad back then..I remember it like if it was yesterday
For all the people that thinks Trinidad would have beaten a prime Whitaker, consider this. Whitaker fought this fight the only way he could consider his reflexes was gone, his footwork was gone, his handspeed a couple steps slower. He stood right in front of Trinidad for twelve rounds, showed that he had a warriors heart, and refused to give in despite his best skills: his movement, defense and reflexes was gone. In Whitakers prime he would have used his great footwork, and make trinidad follow him, avoiding punches with his relexes and counter time after time. It would have looked like Winky vs Trinidad. There is a reason Trinidad never faced Whitaker around 1994 or 1995 or even 1997. Because he still had very good footwork, handspeed, reflexes and was not a sitting duck like in 1999. Or do really people thnik that Trinidad would land 55% of his punches against a prime Whitaker ?? That he would stand still and fight Trinidad for 12 rounds without movement ?? Unlike Roy Jones, around the same age, with his skills and speed, eroded, Whitaker fought his heart out and showed he was a warrior, with a great chin and refused to give in, despite beeing knocked down fighting with a broken jaw. How people can say that he is so boring, and then praise a fighter like Mayweather for his style is pathetic. Whitaker fought with a much higher pace in his fights, then Mayweather ever did, throwing betweeen 700-1000 punches in his fights.Fought a prime Oscar when he was past his prime at 33, not like the 34 year old Oscar that Floyd fought in 2007 that only had stamina for 6-7 rounds. Whitaker was in his prime one of the pound for pound very best, best fighter of the 90s for sure. Had better quality of opponnents then Roy or any other fighter for that matter. Didnt avoid anyone, fought them all. Yes, he could get dropped sometimes in his fight, but thats natural when you throw as many punches as him and is as offensive as he was in his prime. Age and a coke habit was the only thing that beat him, if you dony count lousy judges and wbc Jose Suliman and his "love" for Whitaker and his style. Even if you dont like his style, or him as person, he still should be very high on everybodys pound for pound list. No fighter i have ever seen could handle pressure fighters as good as Whitaker could in his prime, allways fighting bigger and stronger fighters, despite lack of power. He found a way to beat them for 12 rounds.
ensteffe Excuses excuses, Tito beat him fair and square, even if they had fought before Tito still would've beat him. B-hop and Roy Jones, two ring legends were the only ones who could whoop Tito, all the others got their butts kicked, and an Oscar who didn't had the guts to fight Felix toe to toe.
@@anactaneustheeleventh2542 Yes Tito did beat him but that was in no way close to a prime Whitaker. His reflexes and footwork was all gone, you have to be blind not to see that. In Whitakers prime his footwork, reflexes and defense would have made Tito look foolish. Tito would not have been facing a "sitting duck" like when they fought in 99, and not land 55% of his punches.
I love how Larry Merchant and George Foreman go at it. Sometimes the stuff that comes out of George's mouth is ridiculous. And sometimes Larry sounds pompous. They worked great together.
they didn't work well together.. .they hated each other... george thought that larry was a pompous old guy that knew little about actual boxing and larry looked down his nose at george because he wasn't an actual commentator... merchant thought he was more important than the fighters that were responsible for his having a job in the first place...
i was down in north carolina a couple summers ago when i heard about him passing away .. it tripped me out cause we were just down the coast from it .. still trips me out
@@deecee3499 no compare. Againts Hopkins Tito never sat down like this trunk. He was so tired that was grabing Tito the whole fight.. And Tito was no beat as bad as this guy Never ever
That wasn't no blow Pernell. At 35, he took the younger knockout artist the distance!!! And make no mistake Tito was GOING FOR THE KNOCKOUT!!! At 35, Sweet Pea more than HELD HIS OWN!!! LOVE YOU CHAMP...NO ONE STILL NEVER REALLY BEAT YOU, AGE JUST CAUGHT UP TO YOU. NO FIGHTER WILL ESCAPE THE RAVAGES OF TIME!!! Rest up Champ, and thanks for giving us a beautiful ride on the Boxing Road!!!
For those that don't know, Trinidad broke Whitaker's jaw in 3 place in this fight. Whitaker did a great job not getting knocked out. He found out what many fighters did. Once you realize you can't hurt him, you either ran, hugged or you were KO'ed.
@@box5bastard277that extra tape in this days Canelo it's using it in all he's fights and nobody talks about it even Pacquiao wraps he's hands in that form a puncher it's a puncher no matter how you wrapped he's hands,if you don't have skills and timing no matter what you put on
There are simply SO many brilliant and remarkable souls who walked the path of the professional exponent of the Sweet Science that I would not even know where to start regarding my respect and praise thereof. Max respect to them, one and all.
Sweet Pea was undefeated till this night. Felix Trinidad was the first man to convincingly beat Sweat Pea. And this fight on February 20th 1999 was my 21st birthday. Great night !!!
That was the hardest punch I've ever seen Whitaker take from any of his opponents, that uppercut with 7 seconds left in round 8 was the deadliest punch in the hold fight, & I believe that was the punch that had broken Whitaker's jaw because of the way it sounded & the way Whitaker's head snapped back after it landed & you could literally hear the crack of that uppercut on Whitaker's jaw & watch how he reacted when round 8 was over by going to Trinidad's corner when the 8th round was over, lucky for Whitaker he didn't have 20 more seconds left in round 8 or he would have gotten KO by Trinidad cause he was out on his feet.
If Sweet Pea was a little younger and hadn't come of a suspension for cocaine use, he'd box circles around Tito. Good fight though. I think Floyd saw how elicit drug use could adversely affect reflexes so that's why abstained from using them.
Johnny Rutz, Mayweather whipped Tito's ass easily. Mayweather had him spinning on his knees, and then destroyed him. Pernell in his prime boxes circles around Tito
Johnny Rutz that's what they said about everybody he fought and they all got their ass kicked... Mayweather has been a champion for over 20yrs straight....He fought Everyone
Thank You Pernell, I am a Nureorican from the Bronx, you are a great champion, I have the utmost respect for you brother, always enjpyed your fights, no dancing just boxing, RIP, we'll miss you.
@@markgarduno4597 A Puerto Rican born in New York City, the 100% Puerto Ricans from the island consider us 50% Puerto Rican, hope that will answer your question Mark.
hahahahaha preach it brother. These fools want to see people bang and take stupid risks. They never fight see,so they dont know how that shit does you in. They run way more than the people they criticize becasue they dont even train or fight.
Facts, and he took this fight merely months after getting out of drug rehab. If he had waited a year before taking this fight I believe he would've beat Trinidad easily. R.I.P to the King, the greatest boxer of all time.
