Boxing champ Pernell Whitaker dies at 55; hit by car in Virginia
Pernell Whitaker, an Olympic gold medalist and four-division champion who was regarded as one of the greatest defensive fighters ever, has died after being hit by a car in Virginia. He was 55.
Police in Virginia Beach said the former fighter was hit by a car Sunday night. The driver of the car remained on the scene, and police said they were investigating the circumstances of the death.
Sweet Pea was Whitaker’s nickname, and it fit perfectly. He was a master of hitting and not getting hit back, a southpaw who slipped in and out of the pocket and rarely gave an opponent an opportunity to land a clean shot.
Whitaker won a gold medal at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles — one of nine U.S. boxing champions that year — and made his pro debut on national television. He advanced quickly, and was fighting for a major title by his 17th fight, a loss to Jose Luis Ramirez that he would avenge the next year.
But Whitaker was also known as the victim of one of the worst decisions in boxing, a draw that allowed Julio Cesar Chavez to remain unbeaten in their welterweight showdown before a crowd of more than 60,000 at the Alamodome in San Antonio in 1993. WBC welterweight champion Pernell Whitaker adjusts his head phones during a news conference in Las Vegas in 1997.
Four years later, Whitaker into the International Boxing was on the losing end of another Hall of Fame. difficult decision against His style was unique and effective, Oscar De La Hoya in Las Vegas, a hit-and-don’t-be-hit a fight many ringsiders thought strategy that was later adopted he had won. by a rising young fighter named
“When you see the list of greatFloyd Mayweather Jr. Whitaker est boxing robberies in history and Mayweather never met in they were both No. 1 and No. 2 the ring, but Whitaker did win on the list,” said Kathy Duva, a decision over Mayweather’s his longtime promoter. “And uncle, Roger, in 1987. every list of top 10 fighters of Still, it was two controversial all time he was on, too.” decisions — one a draw, the
Whitaker was a champion in other a loss — that may have four weight classes, winning defined his career more than his first one with a 1989 decision anything. over Greg Haugen at lightweight, The first came against Chavez, in a professional career the Mexican great who was unbeaten that spanned 17 years. He finished in 87 fights when he and with a record of 40-4-1 Whitaker met in a highly anticipated and was a first ballot selection fight in San Antonio.