Could Whitaker have won the middleweight title?

Question

If there hadn't been so many great fights for him at the lower weights, and he decided to move up more quickly during his prime, could he have won the middleweight title around 1995-96 or so - I know its hypothetical, but basically, could a fit 160 pound Whitaker have beaten Bernard Hopkins?

Answer 1

good question... it would have been a crazy good fight, idk who tho

Answer 2

Not Hopkins, but he probably could have taken an alphabet soup champ.  Didn't he win the 156 title fairly easily, then jumped back down to 147?  I wish he'd have stayed at 140.  At 147 he sometimes got in over his head against fighters that were quite a bit taller.  Hurtado and Trinidad come to mind.  But if there were 4 middleweight champs, odds are he could beat at least one of them.

Answer 3

No, he would not do well at middleweight and would not have beaten Bernard Hopkins... Ex. Oscar de la Hoya going up to middleweight, Roy Jones Jr. moving up to heavyweight, and Ricky Hatton going up to welterweight... Just stay at the ideal weight and be great there...

All three of them all got knocked out...

Even Floyd Mayweather, the best pound for pound fighter shouldnt go up in any more weight classes or he'll get knocked out too...  There is always a limit.

Answer 4

Pernell was a small welterweight, at middle weight he would have been pushing the limit.  He would have been hard pressed to consistently beat world class middleweights as small as he was, and against a guy like Hopkins, Pernell would have ended up like Sugar Ray Robinson did against Joey Maxim.  Pernell was an all time great at 130-147lbs. but any higher than 154 would have been too much to expect.

Answer 5

maybe if he would of left the coke alone.