Pernell Whitaker

Pernell Whitaker Sr. (January 2, 1964 – July 14, 2019) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 2001, and subsequently worked as a boxing trainer.

He was a four-weight world champion, having won titles at lightweight, light welterweight, welterweight, and light middleweight; the undisputed lightweight title; and the lineal lightweight and welterweight titles.

As an amateur, Whitaker won a silver medal in the lightweight division at the 1982 World Championships, followed by gold at the 1983 Pan American Games and 1984 Olympics.

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 Luis Ortiz to obtain it.

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 split decision to Ramirez.

This was a highly controversial decision, considered one of the worst ever by many analysts, as they felt that Whitaker easily won.

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

He currently holds the longest unified lightweight championship reign in boxing history at six title defenses.

Whitaker is generally regarded as one of the greatest defensive boxers of all-time.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Whitaker successfully defended his WBC belt against Scotland's Gary Jacobs on August 26, 1995.

After his retirement in 2001, Whitaker returned to the sport as a trainer.

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

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

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.