Even if Cuevas managed to land a clean bomb Whitaker had a good enough chin, skill and recuperative abilities to ride out the danger to prevent it from happening again. I don't think Pipino has a very realistic chance.
Early in his career there were questions about Whitaker's chin, after the Mayweather fight and after Pendleton almost dropped him. He put those questions on hold by not getting hit on the chin for about 5 years. I don't think that Cuevas would have much luck finding that chin.
I've argued in other threads that I think Cuevas was a deceiving fighter - he may have thrown wide, looping punches, but they were deceptively fast and came from a variety of angles. That's why he was able to blow out so many skilled boxer/technicians throughout his career in spite of all his faults. Having said that, I would still favor Whitaker to outskill and outslick Cuevas to a decision, but he may have to survive a few rocky moments along the way.
Whitaker's tactic of holding his opponent's left arm and whacking away with his own left would've been key to his success here.
You make a good point. I've been thinking about this fight and I think that if Cuevas thinks about it, he'll lose. His best chance is to ignore feints and the other stuff in Whitaker's bag of tricks and just stay on him and keep punching.
