4division champion was hit by a car in Virginia
Pernell Whitaker, an Olympic gold medalist and fourdivision 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 Whitaker 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, 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. The next year, Whitaker beat Ramirez.
Whitaker also was 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 bout before a crowd of more than 60,000 at the Alamodome in San Antonio in 1993.
Four years later, Whitaker was on the losing end of another difficult decision against Oscar De La Hoya in Las Vegas, a fight many ringsiders thought he had won.
“When you see the list of greatest boxing robberies in history, they were both No. 1 and No. 2 on the list,” said Kathy Duva, his longtime promoter. “And every list of top 10 fighters of all time he was on, too.”
Whitaker was a champion in four weight classes, winning his first one with a 1989 decision over Greg Haugen at lightweight, in a professional career that spanned 17 years. Whitaker finished with a record of 4041 and was a firstballot selection to the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
His style was unique and effective, a hitanddon’tbehit strategy that later was adopted by a rising young fighter named Floyd Mayweather Jr. Whitaker and Mayweather did not meet in the ring, but Whitaker did win a decision over Mayweather’s uncle, Roger, in 1987.
Whitaker’s last big fight came near the end of his career, when Felix Trinidad scored a unanimous decision in their welterweight title fight at Madison Square Garden. Whitaker would fight only once more before retiring, and later worked as a trainer for fighters in the Virginia Beach area.
Former heavyweight champion George Foreman wrote on Twitter that Whitaker was one of the greats in the art of boxing.
“When I first saw “Pernell Sweet Pea Whitaker” in Training Camp; it was like watching a Cat with boxing gloves,” Foreman said. “Best balance I’d ever seen in a Boxer.”
Duva, whose Main Events company promoted all his fights, remembered Whitaker as being as sweet as his nickname. She said he was generous to a fault with a large group of family members.
Whitaker made millions in the ring — $6 million for the De La Hoya fight alone — but Duva said he had little left in the end.
“He wasn’t a spender. He was very modest,” she said, “but he was supporting an awful lot of people for a long time.”
A native of Norfolk, Whitaker dealt with alcohol problems throughout his adult life, Duva said. Whitaker also served time in prison after violating his probation in 2003 on a conviction for cocaine possession.
But in recent years, Whitaker had been happy going to boxing events and meeting fans and signing autographs. He was supposed to be a part of the Manny PacquiaoKeith Thurman fight night Saturday in Las Vegas, where he was to be honored as a boxing legend.
“For years, he wouldn’t do those things,” Duva said. “He found out that it was great, everybody was telling him how much they loved him and what a great fighter he was.”
Duva said Whitaker was divorced and had four children.