Floyd Mayweather Jr: The Pernell Whitaker Effect And What It Means To Mayweather

Since the early stages of boxing, fans have always looked for one thing and many times only one thing, KNOCKOUTS! That is one of the few things that never changes, casual and some veteran boxing fans want to see knockouts.

If an opponent isn't thoroughly knocked out by the end of a fight, they aren't satisfied. If an opponent isn't getting thrashed with punch after punch, they aren't entertained.

Fans flocked to fighters like George Foreman and Mike Tyson who deliver the fierce fisticuffs and brutal endings they desired.

So when a different kind of boxer approaches who is not brutal in might and power, but quick and evasive, the crowd of “knockout fans” don't know how they should react. Pernell Whitaker and Floyd Mayweather Jr. represent this different kind of fighter.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. is a defensive fighter, able to fend off a normally devastating attack via shoulder rolls where he uses his shoulder to take a hit to the face and literally rolls off the punch in order to avoid the full impact of the blow.

He bobs, weaves, and blocks shots while returning quick pot shots to the face, never risking his body with no more than a two or three-punch combination. He was careful and his audience suffered for it, sometimes booing his protective style.

To combat the audience, Mayweather adopted an onscreen persona he uses in interviews and a popular documentary series called 24/7.

In this persona is greed, boastfulness, extreme levels of arrogance, and delusions of grandeur that momentarily become true whenever he steps into the ring to deliver on the victories he is so sure he'll walk away with.

But Mayweather is not the first to adopt a protective style. A modern precursor to Mayweather is Pernell Whitaker. Whitaker's style was evasive and frustrating for any unsuspecting blood-thirsty fight fan not knowing what Whitaker was.

He was a fighter who bounced around the ring jerking his body out of harm's way with the fluidity of water. He dominated in his own way, owning each round of his fights through accurate shots landed on an opponent who couldn't hit him.

While Whitaker's jerking, shucking and jiving caused more than a few laughs, smiles and cheers from time to time, he only knocked out 17 opponents in 46 fights. This makes him likely to not fully appease the blood-thirsty audience.

Pernell Whitaker dominated contender after contender via Unanimous Decision because he could impress the judges with slick moves that produced a clinic on what it meant to hit and not be hit.

Even though the judges were initially impressed, they deeply favored action-packed brawlers who showed power and force in the ring. None of Whitaker's opponent's presented this dynamic..until Julio Cesar Chavez.

Before Cesar Chavez, Whitaker lost to Chavez's friend Jose Luis Ramirez. Ramirez finished his career with a record of 111 fights, 102 victories, 82 of them by knockout. That alone tells the story of what Ramirez came to the ring with.

Power! Power, power, power. If a judge thinks a fighter has more power than another, they will judge them as having more effective punches.

Ramirez kept coming forward, not hurt by Whitaker's hits. Even though Ramirez didn't land as many shots and got hit more, he won in the judge's scorecards.

When the Julio Cesar Chavez fight came along, Whitaker was seen as the other great fighter of the era. The two clashed using completely different styles. The two were like a 1990's version of today's Pacquiao-Mayweather fight.

Pernell Whitaker was more defensive like Floyd Mayweather Jr. Cesar Chavez was more aggressively offensive like Manny Pacquiao. People tend to favor a fighter like Pacquiao/Chavez in style vs. a Mayweather/Whitaker.

When the fight took place on Sept. 10, 1993, Whitaker and Chavez were considered two of the best fighters in boxing at the time. Each had been awarded fighter of the year by Ring Magazine: Whitaker for '89, Chavez for '90.

The two met in the ring in San Antonio, Texas. That meant the crowd would be pro-Mexican. Chavez was already hailed as a Mexican living legend, meaning the crowd was HEAVILY pro-Chavez.

When the bell rang, Chavez could not land very cleanly. Whitaker moved and hit. Whitaker even took it up a notch and double jabbed, nailed flurries and fought a rather aggressive offense for Whitaker. But that was a problem, the offense was aggressive by Whitaker fans' standards, not Texas Mexican standards.

Suffice to say, Whitaker was robbed. The scorecards made the fight a draw. Because Whitaker could not knock Cesar Chavez out in 12 rounds, he lost. What was witnessed was the robbery of the reward for dominating a match.

Fast-forward to today: Pacquiao Vs. Mayweather. Mayweather likely believes he will beat Pacquiao just as Pacquiao likely believes he will beat Mayweather. The one thing Mayweather knows he can't do is knock him out, meaning he'll have to win by decision.

Because of Mayweather's style which many fight fans consider boring and the mass popularity of Pacquiao and his cult-like following of Asians who attend his fights in Vegas, Pacquiao's punches will create “oooos” and “aaaaahs” even when they miss and near miss.

The perfect crowd reaction during a near-miss can create confusion and make the judges think Mayweather is being hit. Pacquiao will press forward, meaning the judges may like his style of always stalking Mayweather and throwing hundreds of punches to stay busy. This may hurt Mayweather if so.

In May 2007, Mayweather almost lost to De La Hoya. Mayweather didn't almost lose because De La Hoya actually almost beat him, because anyone who was honest with themselves saw Mayweather dominate the fight.

The problem was the pro-De La Hoya crowd who cheered whenever De La Hoya threw punch anywhere near Mayweather's head or body, whether the punch missed or not. The judges also saw Oscar was not “hurt.”

“Hurt” in boxing usually means that a boxer is stumbling or caught off balance by a nice punch or combination. Judges tend to score better for people who can “hurt” their opponents.

Mayweather could frustrate Oscar and cause him to get tired quicker, but “hurt” was not something Mayweather, like Whitaker before him against Chavez, could do.

The judges awarded Mayweather a split-decision victory. That means one of the three judges felt sweating, tired, frustrated, old Man Oscar won the fight.

This could mean that Mayweather, a tactician at heart, knows Pacquiao could beat him by just “staying busy” and not being knocked down by Mayweather's punches.

Judges almost favored a frustrated De La Hoya over a clearly comfortable and unphased Mayweather. Pacquiao is faster, younger and can take a punch well, so could he win by split decision for just throwing aggressive punches at the air and staying on his feet?

I believe this, the idea of being beaten even when performing beautifully at his own game is what may make Mayweather not particularly excited about fighting Pacquiao.

But if Mayweather is indeed robbed of victory, I imagine the reaction will be the same as it was for Pernell Whitaker when he too was robbed of victory against Cesar Chavez.

Sports Illustrated, Ring Magazine, and many other sports and boxing publications will spring to his defense and hail him as the greatest of the current era.

One Final Point of Interest: Being 41-0

Most great boxers lose...eventually. But most great boxers, especially black boxers who go undefeated early in their pro careers lose for the first time around their 40^th fight. George Foreman was 40 and 0 before being defeated by Muhammad Ali. Sugar Ray Robinson was 40 and 0 before Jake LaMotta pounded him through 10 hellish rounds for the upset.

Shane Mosley wasn't quite there but he was 38-0 when Olympic boxer Vernon Forrest dethroned Mosley. Felix Trinidad was 40 and 0 when Bernard Hopkins beat him.

Pernell Whitaker wasn't 40 and 0 when he first lost, but he technically should have won his first loss to Jose Ramirez. Many considered that a highway robbery by the judges. Many considered Whitaker truly undefeated until Oscar De La Hoya.

When he stepped in the ring to fight De La Hoya, Pernell Whitaker was 40-1-1. Since that loss was highly disputed, you could say he was undefeated. 41-0 if you will...sound familiar (Mayweather Jr.).

Oscar De La Hoya won by decision. Some felt Whitaker wasted the last few rounds and allowed De La Hoya to come back. Others felt Whitaker had won. He even knocked down De La Hoya at one point, but De La Hoya kept coming.

He never backed down and never hurt Whitaker much, but that aggression and De La Hoya's growing popularity at the time helped him barely dig out a victory in an otherwise close fight.

After that, Pernell Whitaker continued to lose two more matches and earned a no contest match for testing positive to cocaine use. Whitaker ended his career with a record of 40-4-1.

Maybe history could repeat itself. Maybe this is a warning to Mayweather to watch himself. 41 and 0 is a dangerous place to be. There may be someone waiting in the wings to take that 0 away.

I'm not saying Mayweather won't win, but I am pointing out the interesting facts surrounding the Pernell Whitaker Effect.