Pernell Whitaker and Floyd Mayweather. Not 1 but 2 in our lifetime that boxed having talent that was gifted from above. And the media in this country didn't like them. This fight should have been a draw. Oscar was just to strong on the inside for Whitaker to be effective but the scores were ridiculous. Whitaker's body shots were hurting Oscar but nobody says anything.
I remember being fifteen and being a MONSTER Oscar fan and was hoping he would be given the decision and fooled myself into thinking he had done enough to get the W but in hindsight rewatching this fight a dozen times over twenty years theres absolutely no question Pernell won the fight. It's not even debatable anymore with myself. It was somewhat close but not close enough to give it to Oscar or call it a draw. Pernell got screwed over so many times in his career it's ridiculous.
Hate all the people saying sweet pea got robbed. The fight was really close and could have gone either way. Saw the fight twice and edged de la hoya by one point in both rewatches.
No way oscar won by Unan 😂😂 and it shouldve been way closer no way he lost by 5 or 6 smh maybe by 2 if anything. Honestly the headbutt was bs, but oscar fought good and a great win for him, and we see that pernell was really one of the greatest being 33 vs a 24 year old oscar. Boxing prime isn’t usually past 32-33 but he was still skilled. Both great fighters, just dont agree he won by that much. Close and good fight.
I remember scoring this for Oscar in real time but the more I watch this fight the more I was lying to myself. Whitaker definitely did not lose this fight.
38:57 tell tale signs the fix was in !!! 85 power punches ? Lampley don’t want to acknowledge Whittaker... Roy said it best You don’t land them shots on Whittaker.
@Alberto Rod No, you win rounds by being EFFECTIVELY aggressive, which Oscar wasn't half the time. If you miss as much as he did, it really shouldn't matter how much you charge at a guy.
@@giovannyfernandogonzalez5517 Defensive movements are part of what's supposed to be scored in the event of hits not landing, so yes (which is in a rare case scenario but works with someone like Sweet Pea). Sweet Pea made him miss a lot and was able to return with his own, even if they weren't power shots. That's how you win rounds.
50:14 Larry Merchant showing as an old man he's such a novice. Listen to what he tells Roy, and Roy, being an experienced champion tries to tell him it's easier said than done. This is why you shouldn't have a commentator who never laced up gloves. larry ignorance in that conversation shows that the stuff he said in years afterward have no real basis. I'm glad he eventually got called out on his BS. He knows very little about boxing.
I'm sorry i have to disagree with you there, fighters just aren't as entertaining like a commentator, have you heard Sergio mora commentating, he's terrible, Roy was ok, and Lennox Lewis wasn't good either, commentators are very important
@@leopalio2319 other spirts have play bybplay who have at least played the sport, even if not on a pro level. But boxing has guys who have never fought. And im not saying EVERY fighter would make a good commentator, but some would. And all of them are very insightful.
Whitaker make Oscar look foolish so much in the fight, he make the fast, compact punching De La Hoya miss badly at times. Easy to see Oscar frustrated with his fist pumps after throwing at end of round y he try to push Whitaker when he crouched low at end of fight.
@Tomi Igo dude what fight were you watching Oscar did not win that fight who cares if he head butted him still doesn't change the fact Oscar got schooled
I remember this fight. Jim Lampley was riding Oscar's jock hard. The crowd was going crazy over whatever Oscar threw. Oscar was raising his hands to try to sway the judges but I thought the fight should've went to Sweet P... Just my 2¢
Greatness recognizes Greatness.... Two Legendary Boxing Hall Famers 🏆 Congratulations to Oscar De La Hoya. Excellent Performance by both Men However. Much Respect to Whitaker RIP Champ
Oscar clearly won this fight. Let’s not exaggerate and try to give it to Whitaker just cause he passed away. The judges got it right. I only could give sweet pea three rounds at most.
Ah this was the fight with which the "meme before there were memes" of Jim Lampley's cheerleading for De La Hoya was in full force, giving him credit for shots that didn't land, and reaching the point of climax whenever Oscar threw a combination. Whitaker won this fight, and Oscar tried to work the crowd by throwing a combination that missed and then putting his arm up to the pro DLH crowd as if he'd landed everything and won the round. But Pernell clearly won this fight, and was robbed again, there's a reason DLH didn't give him a rematch. Whitaker was right when he said Oscar wasn't really gonna give him a rematch.
Please, see this fight in slow motion. There're a LOT less punches landed than what compubox counted (or what ANY of the commentators said). Yet, I still had Oscar winning more rounds than Pernell. Oscar clearly won 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 12. (They landed the same amount of punches in round 7. But Oscar landed right hands over Pernell's jab). Question: Why the cut on DLH was not a problem for DLH if he was cut as early as in the 3rd round? Why did the cut close completely? Because Pernell did not landed his Left hand at all. Again, see it in slow motion. There were many rounds where Pernell only landed jabs, and did not landed one single right hook in the whole fight. Close match. Yes. But DLH won it.
Oscar never had 1 rematch his whole career even when he got robbed agains Trinidad he didn't seek a rematch. He fought the best and then moved on to who ever the next best guy was. He didn't win all his big fights but he might have the best resume of fighting other great fighters in boxing history. Chaves, Quarttey, Tito, Vargas, Sweet Pea, Mayweather, Pacquio, Hopkins..thats a murders row right there.
Everytime Whittaker went in for a hit Oscar hit his ass, Whittaker got countered by trying to counter, he got hit by Oscar a lot, he’s there is moments Whittaker did make him miss a lot but Whittaker was hitting, when Whittaker did Oscar was landing hits as well.
What in the world were these judges watching?!?!?!?!?!?! UNANIMOUS DECISION?!?!?!?!?!? No way did Oscar win by that wide of a margin. His own corner don’t even believe that.
@@aldinewestfield5821 ????? Whitaker EASILY outclassed Mr. 87-0(@the time)!!! You're definitely in the minority. Most Mexicans even think Sweet Pea won! #RIPSWEETPEA
racism in boxing: in that very same year with same ref Evander Holyfield accidentally headbuts tyson (before Tyson bit his ear) the ref mills lane doesn't deduct a point for Holyfield's head but, yet he deduct Whitaker for his headbut against "the golden boy"
I’m mexican too, And my last name’s rodriguez😂 But I ain’t biased… Oscar did not win this fight ‘easily’. Its debatable that he even won at all. If you think he won for being a pretty boi , think that all you want bbg
In scoring a fight, you should defer to the data first. Whitaker connected on 232 of 582 total punches or 40%; De La Hoya connected on 191 of 556 or 34%. It was a close fight, but Pernell dictated and maintained the pace throughout the fight-a subjective opinion substantiated by the punch stats. Considering the point deduction for the incidental butt, I had Whitaker winning this bout.
He probably did win but it wasn’t convincing. Pernell didn’t come in with the right mind state and boxing was ready 2 saddle up 2 a new cash cow. Pernell could’ve stopped DeLaHoya had he been properly focused.
@Pancho Sánchez Hey Poncho! Many viewed the outcome quite differently. As for dancing like a clown, whitacher is considered by boxing historians as one of the greatest defensive boxers of all times!!
My heart wants to call this a robbery. I won't do that because it was a close fight, but I will say that I've scored it several times and I've never found 7 rounds to give to Oscar. Neither did the journalists who covered it live, because they were polled after the fight: 11 had Oscar winning, 14 had Whitaker winning. But that aside, there is no bigger testament to Whitaker's greatness than the fact that at his age, with drug problems, coming off four subpar performances (Rivera x2, Hurtado, Gary Jacobs) and clearly past his prime years, all while fighting a naturally much bigger fighter, Pernell still possibly beat a young Oscar de la Hoya. That's how great this guy was. Thank god for RU-vid, we can't let the new generation of boxing fans forget someone like this.
I felt too many of De La Hoya's punches were lunging, where as Pernell 'sat down' on his punches more, For the smaller/older guy this illustrates his defensive edge. I do feel it was close though. At Welter Whitaker was oft the smaller man, this served to exaggerate his defensive counter punching style. I thought Pernell edged it tho. The scorecards were way off. As Joe Cortez has said the position of the judges needs to be higher.
How many rounds did Oscar know he lost, attempt to steal in the last 10 seconds, and then go to the corner hands raised, obviously to persuade judges further. He knew what was up
Pernell Whitaker only lost one fight and that was to Felix Trinidad, and he had to be a crackhead for that to be possible. Actually even if he wasn't he would've just got robbed again, nevermind
Don't need to watch this fight again. I saw it once and it was disgusting to see Delahoya being 'given' the title. Whitaker definitely deserved to retain his title. Been watching boxing since the 70's. To become champ you need to either stop the champ or completely dominate him leaving no doubt--Delahoya didn't come close to doing either. Politics involved here......
35:10 Sulamans steady protecting their Hispanic fighters lmao 😂 . Obviously southpaw and orthadox gonna but heads incidentally like Roy said they power hands are aligned. They all in agreement that rule is excessive especially in a title fight lol. Dang. I thought the hamburgalers tactics were obvious.
No..I disagree. I take the Kellerman approach to scoring a round; at the end of the round, ask yourself who would you rather have been in that round? You see, when we take the logic of "well yes, he landed harder shots, but the other guy outboxed him, so he still lost the round", then you need to follow that to its logical endpoint. This logic would indicate you shouldn't award a 10/8 round for a knockdown, if the individual who was knocked down was outboxing the entirety of the round right before the knockdown. In other words, hard shots do matter; damage matters; who supplied the damage matters. If two men had guns and were shooting at each other from close range, one guy has a .22 and the other a .357; it doesn't matter how many times the guy with the .22 hits the other, nor how many times the .357 misses...not when the .357 finally lands and blows an entire hand or arm off.
pernell didnt go their to win the fight, he went there to survive the fight, u cant award any fighter with a win with that approach, not on a championship fight
Damn Unanimous lololol some bullshit... Sweet Pea won even with that cut.. he outlanded GB and made him miss waay more... the Whitaker Jab should of been enuff to out score GB..
I'll do you one better. See this fight in slow motion. There're a LOT less punches landed than what compubox counted (or what ANY of the commentators said). Yet, I still had Oscar winning more rounds than Pernell. Oscar clearly won 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 12. (They landed the same amount of punches in round 7. But Oscar landed right hands over Pernell's jab). Question: Why the cut on DLH was not a problem for DLH if he was cut as early as in the 3rd round? Why did the cut close completely? Because Pernell did not landed his Left hand at all. Again, see it in slow motion. There were many rounds where Pernell only landed jabs, and did not landed one single right hook in the whole fight. Close match. Yes. But DLH won it.
Great great fight! One of the best fight ever. All time great technical battle , in early rounds de la hoya was hitting the air most of the times against one of the best defensive fighter of all time pernall Whitaker, in mid rounds de la hoya started switching stance Whitaker was having a bit of trouble to adjust de la hoya get chances to land some good shots then danced around forced Whitaker to lead and he was having some success countering,in last rounds whittaker started dancing and boxed Oscar around. I think it’s a draw. The rematch never happened by the way, the match maker probably did so to protect de la hoya the hottest star at the time.
Whitaker's best punch ...without a doubt.... is a dodge. And what is with all of the dirty fighting / back turning / break dancing / back handing? This filthy disgrace of a fighter received far too much credit for his gimmick style.
Damn I understand Larry wanting more action and more punches being thrown but damn he not complain during the entire fight. It’s not like he had never covered a Whitaker fight before
I loved the way dela hoya was holding the neck of whitiker but the moment the rolls were reversed he immediately shouts off the neck, the crowd was against whitiker from the beginning
Oscar throws flurries and tries to steal rounds in last 10 seconds. Easy to fall for the more "flashy" punches, but the clean punches were being landed by Whitaker. Punch stats had Whitaker landing 232 of 582 punches at 40%, and De La Hoya landing 191 of 556 at 34%. Whitaker outboxed Oscar, and scored a knockdown
The best fighters Whitaker the clear though iam a suppotrr of Oscar until I saw this fight.... When I learnt that Whitaker is no more... Just not able digest it. RIP Whitaker... media.tenor.co/images/fb43391702081e60ff77d0cfe2a59d06/tenor.gif
Lol, he was robbed. Landed 100 more punches, made oscar look like a tool with his defence and knocked him down. all out of his prime addicted to coke and a weight class too high.@@coymatlock8711
All three judges had it for Oscar and so did the HBO unofficial judge. ( and he gave Whittaker round 5, watch it again, that was a clear round for Oscar)
This is the most biased commentary i have ever heard. :-D Good fight from both fighters. The better one won. I believe that after people watched it again they understood. While many De La Hoya's punches missed, about same ammount of Whitaker's hit only gloves. Still great show, just better to mute it and listen to some music as background. :-)
