Pernell Whitaker

Amateur career Whitaker had an extensive amateur boxing career, having started at the age of nine. He had 214 amateur fights, winning 201, 91 of them by knockouts, though he said that he had up to 500 amateur fights. He lost to two-time Olympic Gold medalist Ángel Herrera Vera at the final of the World Championships 1982 but beat him four other times, notably in the final of the Pan American Games 1983 in Caracas. He crowned his amateur career with an Olympic gold medal in 1984, beating Puerto Rican Luis Ortiz to obtain it.

Professional career Lightweight In just his eleventh and twelfth pro bouts, Whitaker defeated former world champion Alfredo Layne on December 20, 1986 and former WBA and lineal Super Featherweight and WBC Light Welterweight title holder Roger Mayweather on March 28, 1987. Whitaker won both bouts before hometown crowds at the Norfolk Scope, less than a mile from where he lived as a child in a Norfolk housing project. Whitaker would fight nine times in the Scope arena during his career.

On March 12, 1988, he challenged José Luis Ramírez for the WBC Lightweight title in Levallois, France. He suffered his first pro defeat when the judges awarded a close split decision to Ramirez. This was considered a highly controversial decision, as many boxing analysts had Whitaker winning the fight.

Undisputed lightweight champion Whitaker trudged on, winning a decision over Greg Haugen for the IBF Lightweight title on February 18, 1989, becoming the first boxer to knock Haugen down by sending him to the mat in the sixth round. He then added the vacant WBC & The Ring belts by avenging his loss to Ramirez on August 20.

Now a champion, Whitaker proceeded to dominate boxing's middle divisions over the first half of the 1990s. In 1990, he defended his Lightweight title against future champion Freddie Pendleton and Super Featherweight Champion Azumah Nelson of Ghana. On August 11, 1990, he knocked out Juan Nazario in one round to win the WBA and vacant lineal lightweight titles, becoming the first Undisputed Lightweight Champion since Roberto Durán. His highlight of 1991 was a win over Jorge Páez and a fight against European Champion Poli Díaz that ended in another win.

IBF light welterweight champion

In 1992, he began his ascent in weight, winning the IBF light welterweight title from Colombian puncher Rafael Pineda on July 18.

WBC and lineal welterweight champion

On March 6, 1993, he decisioned Buddy McGirt to become the Lineal and WBC Welterweight Champion.

Whitaker vs. Chávez

Whitaker was gaining momentum and boxing experts and fans felt that he needed to win against the pound for pound best boxer in the world: Julio César Chávez. The two met in a welterweight superfight simply named "The Fight" on September 10, 1993 in San Antonio, Texas. In the eyes of many of the spectators, Whitaker outboxed the Mexican legend. While one judge did score the fight in favor of Whitaker (115-113), the other 2 judges saw an even bout (115-115), resulting in a majority draw. Sports Illustrated post-fight edition had "ROBBED!" across the cover and they believed that Whitaker had won no less than 9 of the 12 rounds in the fight. The now-defunct “Bert Sugar's Boxing Illustrated" magazine had a heading on the cover of its post-fight edition telling readers not to buy the issue if they really believed "The Fight" was a draw.

Whitaker continued on to dominate for the next few years, defending his welterweight title against Santos Cardona on April 9, 1994 and in a rematch against McGirt on October 1, 1994.

WBA super welterweight champion

In his next fight on March 4, 1995, Whitaker added Julio César Vásquez's WBA super welterweight title to his collection. Early on, Vasquez was the aggressor, and scored a flash knockdown on Whitaker in the 4th round; but Whitaker settled in & used his accuracy and defense to take over and outpoint Vasquez en route to a unanimous decision win. This was a history making fight for Whitaker, as he became only the fourth fighter in history - joining Thomas Hearns, Sugar Ray Leonard, and Roberto Durán - to have won a legitimate world title in four different weight classes. However, he chose to move back to welterweight.

Return to welterweight

Whitaker successfully defended his WBC belt against Scotland's Gary Jacobs on August 26, 1995. In January, 1997, Whitaker put his title on the line against Cuban fighter Diosbelys Hurtado. Hurtado gave Whitaker all he could handle and then some. Hurtado had Whitaker down on all the judges scorecards going into the 11th round: Hurtado scored flash knockdowns against Whitaker in rounds 1 and 6, and Whitaker had a point deducted in the 9th round for hitting Hurtado behind the head. But midway in the 11th round, Whitaker landed a left hook that hurt Hurtado; and in a rare display of aggression and power, Whitaker unleashed a barrage of left-handed power shots, pummeling Hurtado into the ropes, knocking Hurtado out and almost completely out of the ring before referee Arthur Mercante Jr. stopped the fight at the 1:52 mark, giving Whitaker the come-from-behind TKO win. The win set up a showdown with undefeated 1992 Olympic gold medalist Oscar De La Hoya.

Whitaker vs. De La Hoya

He met Oscar De La Hoya on April 12, 1997, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Whitaker, defending his WBC championship and the mythical status as the best boxer in the world, pound for pound, succeeded in making De La Hoya look bad through his crafty defense, but he was unable to mount a sufficient offense to convince the judges. Whitaker was awarded an official knockdown in the 9th round and, according to CompuBox stats, outlanded 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 and had a slightly higher power punch connect percentage than Whitaker and showed more aggression in the fight, which may have factored into De La Hoya winning by a somewhat disputed unanimous decision. At the end of the fight, the judges' scores were 115-111, 116-110, 116-110. Many ringside observers felt the fight was much closer than the scorecards showed, and some had Whitaker winning the fight.

For his part, De La Hoya wasn't too pleased with his own performance against Whitaker and had hinted at a possible rematch to prove that he could do better against him. But Bob Arum, De La Hoya's promoter at that time, decided against it.

Whitaker's next bout was against Russian-born fighter Andrey Pestryayev in a world title elimination fight, where the winner would earn an automatic #1 contender spot for the WBA Welterweight crown, held at the time by Ike Quartey. Whitaker originally won the fight, but the win was nullified & changed to a No Decision after he failed a post-fight drug test, testing positive for cocaine. Whitaker was suspended for six months, but the commission lifted the suspension after he agreed to random testing and his title bout with Quartey was to proceed as scheduled, however, the bout was cancelled after Whitaker tested positive for a second time.

Whitaker vs. Trinidad

On February 20, 1999, Whitaker suffered his first convincing defeat against the much bigger, much fresher Félix Trinidad, gamely taking the Puerto Rican the distance in an attempt to win Trinidad's IBF welterweight title. The fight began with both boxers displaying aggressive styles, which included excessive pushing. In the following rounds, both boxers used their jabs most of the time, with Trinidad gaining an advantage when Whitaker attempted to attack inside, eventually scoring a knockdown in round two.

Career as a trainer In December 2005 Whitaker became a boxing trainer in his home state of Virginia. While the decline of speed and agility pushed him into retirement, his knowledge of the ring and competitive boxing's components led him to seek out up-and-coming boxers to train to fight in the manner in which he did.

His first fighter, Dorin Spivey fought matches in 2006. He later trained young prospect Joel Julio.

Whitaker was also the trainer for heavyweight Calvin Brock who, as recently as November 2006, fought for the IBF and IBO titles against Wladimir Klitschko, wherein Brock was knocked out in the 7th round.

Whitaker also trained former IBF world champion Paul Spadafora between 2009 and 2010 for 3 fights in which Spadafora won all three.

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

Whitaker also became the head trainer of former undisputed welterweight champion Zab Judah, who defeated Kaizer Mabuza in March 2011 to win the vacant IBF light welterweight title.

Personal life Pernell Whitaker was born in Norfolk, Virginia on January 2, 1964, the son of Raymond Whitaker Sr. and his wife, Novella. The couple later divorced. They had four children together. Pernell also had a daughter from a prior relationship.

Pernell graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in 1982 and later received an honorary bachelor's degree from Norfolk State University. His humble beginnings started in Youngs Park Housing Community where he was inspired to start his boxing career. Outside of the ring, Sweet Pea served his community and the youth in everything that he did. He sponsored many events at Norfolk State University and spent countless hours training youth at boxing camps and gyms. He also remained active in Norfolk and spoke at city council meetings on behalf of the residents in support of community improvements.

Pernell had personal struggles and in June 2002 was convicted of cocaine possession after a judge found he violated the terms of a previous sentence by overdosing on cocaine in March. In February 2014, Pernell made national headlines after he evicted his mother, Novella Whitaker, out of the house he purchased for her shortly after he turned pro. Apparently, back taxes were owed on the house and Pernell said that neither his mother nor his siblings, who also stayed in the house, were doing anything to help keep the house afloat financially. Pernell's lawyers said that he is not making the same kind of money as a trainer that he was as a boxer, and needed to sell off the home to satisfy the tax debt owed in order to prevent the property from being seized and put into foreclosure. Outside of the Virginia courtroom where the eviction proceedings took place, he called the ruling in his favor "a beautiful moment."

Death At about 10 p.m. on July 14, 2019, Whitaker was crossing the street in Virginia Beach, at the intersection of Northampton Boulevard and Baker Road, when he was struck and killed by a vehicle. He was 55. An autopsy stated that the cause of Whitaker's death was "multiple blunt force trauma."

Professional boxing record

Titles in boxing Major world titles WBA lightweight champion (135 lbs) WBC lightweight champion (135 lbs) IBF lightweight champion (135 lbs) IBF light welterweight champion (140 lbs) WBC welterweight champion (147 lbs) WBA light middleweight champion (154 lbs)

The Ring magazine titles The Ring lightweight champion (135 lbs)

Regional/International titles NABF lightweight champion (135 lbs) USBA lightweight champion (135 lbs)

Undisputed titles Undisputed lightweight champion

Pay-per-view bouts Date Fight Billing Buys NetworkWhitaker vs. De La HoyaPound for Pound720,000 HBO