Pernell Whitaker

At 55 years old, Pernell Whitaker has this physical status:

Pernell Whitaker Sr. (January 2, 1964-2020) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 2001 and then worked as a boxing coach.

He was a four-weight world champion, having received titles in lightweight, light welterweight, and light middleweight; the undisputed lightweight championship; and the lineal lightweight and welterweight titles.

By The Ring magazine and the Boxing Writers Association of America, Whitaker was named Fighter of the Year in 1989.

The Ring ranked him as the best active boxer in the world from 1993 to 1997, pound for pound for more than ten years.

At six title defenses, he has the longest unified lightweight championship reign in boxing history.

Whitaker is widely regarded as one of the best defensive boxers of all time. Whitaker earned a silver medal in the lightweight division at the 1982 World Championships, followed by gold at the 1983 Pan American Games and 1984 Olympics.

Whitaker returned to the sport as a mentor after his retirement in 2001.

The Ring named him tenth in their list of "The 100 Greatest Fighters of the Last 80 Years" in 2002.

In 2006, Whitaker was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in his first year of membership.

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Amateur career

Whitaker began amateur boxing at the age of nine. He had 214 amateur fights, winning 201, 91 of them by knockouts, but he denied that he had fewer than 500 amateur fights. He lost to two-time Olympic gold medalist ngel Herrera Vera in the final of the Pan American Games 1983 in Caracas, but he has met him four times in the final. In 1984, he won the Olympic gold medal for his amateur work, beating Luis Ortiz to win it.

Professional career

Whitaker defeated former world champion Alfredo Layne on December 20, 1986, and WBC Lightweight and WBC Light Welterweight champion Roger Mayweather in just his 11th and twelfth pro bouts. Whitaker captured both bouts before returning to the Norfolk Scope, less than a mile from where he lived as a child in a Norfolk housing project. During his career, Whitaker would fight nine times in the Scope arena.

In Levallois, France, José Luis Ramrez defeated him for the WBC Lightweight title on March 12, 1988. Ramirez suffered his first pro loss when the judges gave him a split decision.

Whitaker forged on, winning a fight over Greg Haugen for the IBF Lightweight title on February 18, 1989, becoming the first boxer to knock Haugen to the ground in the sixth round. He then regained his WBC & The Ring belts by avenging his loss to Ramirez on August 20.

Whitaker, now a champion, has gone on to rule boxing's middle divisions in the first half of the 1990s. In 1990, he defended his Lightweight title against future champion Freddie Pendleton and Ghana's Super Featherweight Champion Azumah Nelson. He defeated Juan Nazario in one round of the WBA and vacant lineal lightweight titles on August 11, 1990, becoming the first Undisputed Lightweight Champion since Roberto Durán. He recalled that his highlight of 1991 was a win over Jorge Páez, as well as a spirited brawl against European Champion Poli Daz that resulted in another triumph.

He began his weight gain in 1992 by winning the IBF light welterweight title from Colombian puncher Rafael Pineda on July 18.

Buddy McGirt was selected by Joe McGirt on March 6, 1993, as the Lineal and WBC Welterweight champion.

Whitaker was gaining traction, and boxing experts and followers argued that he should win against the pound for the best boxer in the world, Julio César Chávez. On September 10, 1993 in San Antonio, Texas, the two teams engaged in a welterweight superfight simply titled "The Fight." Whitaker beat the Mexican legend in the eyes of many of the spectators. However, 2 of the three judges saw an even match with the other judge's vote in favour of Whitaker, resulting in a majority draw.

Whitaker maintained his welterweight title in a rematch against McGirt on October 1, 1994.

Whitaker added Julio César Vásquez's WBA super welterweight title to his collection in his next fight on March 4, 1995. Despite being rattled early in the game, Whitaker faced no real challenge against Vásquez en route to victory. Whitaker was his fourth fighter in history, joining Thomas Hearns, Sugar Ray Leonard, and Roberto Durán to win a legitimate world championship in four different weight classes. However, he returned to welterweight.

On August 26, 1995, Whitaker defended his WBC belt against Scotland's Gary Jacobs. Whitaker fought Cuban fighter Diosbelys Hurtado in January, 1997. Whitaker was dealt all he could handle and then some. Hurtado had Whitaker down on all the judges' scorecards going into the 11th round, and Whitaker was disqualified in the 9th round for striking Hurtado behind the head. Whitaker won by a point in the 11th round when unleashing a slew of left-handed power shots, pummeling Hurtado, throwing Hurtado out and almost out of the game before referee Arthur Mercante Jr. stopped the match at 1:52, taking Whitaker out and practically out of the contest. With undefeated 1992 Olympic gold medalist Oscar De La Hoya, it set up a showdown.

Oscar De La Hoya was born in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 12, 1997. Whitaker, who was defending his WBC championship and his legendary position as the world's best boxer, made De La Hoya look bad through his crafty defense, but the judges were unable to mount a strong defense to convince them. Whitaker was granted an official knockdown in the 9th round, outpunching De La Hoya in overall punches and connect percentage, using the jab as his primary weapon; but De La Hoya threw and landed almost twice as many power punches, with a marginally higher power punch connect percentage than Whitaker, which may have been the determining factor in De La Hoya's victory by a contentious unanimous decision. The judges' scores were 111-115, 110-116, 110-116, 110-116, 110-116, at the conclusion of the battle.

De La Hoya, for his part, wasn't too happy with his own results against Whitaker and had speculated at a potential match rematch to see if he could do better against him. However, Bob Arum, De La Hoya's promoter at the time, had no interest in it but De La Hoya's promoter at thenage, but he didn't do it.

Whitaker's next fight was against Russian-born fighter Andrey Pestryayev in a world championship elimination tournament, where the winner will earn an automatic No. 1 contender spot for the WBA Welterweight championship, which was held at the time by Ike Quartey. Whitaker had originally won the fight but decided against it and turned to a No Decision after failing a post-fight drug test. Whitaker had been banned for six months, but the commission lifted the suspension after he agreed to random testing and his title match against Quartey was supposed to take place as planned, but the match was postponed for the second time after Whitaker tested positive for the second time.

Whitaker suffered his first convincing loss against Félix Trinidad's much bigger, much younger Félix Trinidad on February 20, 1999, losing the Puerto Rican gamely in the IBF's welterweight tournament in Trinidad. Both boxers had aggressive designs that required heavy pushing to get the boxers off. Both boxers used their jabs the majority of the time, with Trinidad gaining an edge when Whitaker tried to attack inside, resulting in a knockdown in round two. The fighters swapped combinations in the fourth, fifth, and sixth rounds. Both boxers collapsed to the ground in what was ruled as "accidental slips" later in the fight. Whitaker's offense, power punches with Trinidad, sparked more protest, but the champion retained control of the game during the eight, ninth, and tenth rounds. Whitaker, who had a swollen right eye, took a strictly defensive role in the last round, avoiding his opponent throughout the round, but Trinidad continued on the offensive until the match concluded. The judges gave the champion scores of 117–111, 118–109, and 118–109.

Carlos Bojorquez, a journeyman, was defeated in his last fight on April 27, 2001. The former lightweight wrestler, Whitaker, reached the ring at 155 pounds. In round four, he broke his clavicle and was forced to leave; at the time of the suspension, Whitaker fascinating in all the judges' scorecards by 28-29. Whitaker also announced his resignation after this fight. He finished his professional career with a record of 40-4-1 (17 knockouts).

Whitaker was ranked as the 10th Greatest Fighter of the Last 80 Years by The Ring in 2002.

Whitaker was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame on December 7, 2006, alongside contemporaries Roberto Durán and Ripez. They were all eligible in their first year of eligibility.

Career as a trainer

In December 2005, Whitaker began working as a boxing coach in his home state, Virginia. Although his speed and agility pushed him into retirement, his understanding of the ring and competitive boxing's components prompted him to seek out up-and-coming boxers to fight in the manner in which he did.

Dorin Spencey, his first fighter, participated in 2006, but he died soon after. Joel Julio, a young prospect from high school, later trained him.

WhitaAME was also the handler for heavyweight Calvin Brock, who competed for the IBF and IBO titles against Wladimir Klitschko, wherein Brock was disqualified in the 7th round.

Paul Spadafora, a former IBF world champion, was also trained by Whitaker from 2009 to 2010, winning all three fights.

Whitaker was inducted into the Hampton Roads Sports Hall of Fame in 2010, in honor of those who have devoted to sports in southeastern Virginia.

Whitaker has also served as the head coach for former undisputed welterweight champion Zab Judah, who defeated Kaizer Mabuza in March 2011 to win the vacant IBF light welterweight title.

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