Remembering the life of boxing great Pernell ‘Sweet Pea’ Whitaker

The sudden news of Pernell Whitaker’s death shocked the boxing world. He was one of boxing’s greatest stars and transformed the fight game.

On Monday, July 15, boxing fans around the world woke to the stunning news that Pernell ‘Sweet Pea’ Whitaker was killed the previous night. Early reports suggest that Witaker was struck and killed by a car while trying to cross the street at night in Virginia Beach, VA.  A champion in the ring, Whitaker amassed a record of 40-4-1, with 17 KOs. He was only 55 years old at the time of his death, and will forever be remembered for his defensive counterpunching style that revolutionized boxing.

Whitaker was born on Jan. 2, 1964 in Norfolk, VA. He gravitated towards boxing at the early age of nine. He excelled as a boxer and fought an astounding 214 amateur bouts. The pinnacle of Whitaker’s amateur career came in 1984 when he won the Olympic gold medal in the lightweight division. He turned professional later that year winning his first contest by TKO.

Whitaker went on to take the boxing world by storm. His southpaw, defense-first style gave opponents fits and exposed boxers to a new philosophy that you can win fights and build a fanbase with defense.

Whitaker lost his first title shot in 1988 to Jose Luis Ramirez by UD, but many felt that he deserved the victory. Despite this loss, Whitaker remained determined and went on to become a four-division world champion and Hall-of-Famer when his career concluded.

He defeated Greg Haugen by UD in 1989 to claim his first of many world titles. Whitaker dominated the lightweight division over the next two years and added the WBC and WBA titles to his collection to unify the lightweight division. In that span, Whitaker earned wins against Azumah Nelson, Juan Nazarlo, and Jorge Paez.

From 1992 until the end of his career in 2001, Whitaker fought as super lightweight, welterweight, and super welterweight. He would won additional titles in all of those divisions.

Some of his other notable victories include wins over Buddy McGirt, Julio Cesar Vazquez, and Wilfredo Rivera. However, Whitaker’s legacy is built around some of his narrowest losses and not just his wins.

In 1993, Whitaker boxed brilliantly against the iconic Julio Cesar Chavez, but the fight was a scored a majority draw with one judge scoring it 115-113 for Whitaker. Many media members and boxing fans saw controversy in the scoring and thought Whitaker deserved the decision. Sports Illustrated featured Whitaker and Chavez on the cover with the title “Robbed!” in all caps.

Over the next several years, Whitaker enjoyed many more victories and another long stretch as a world champion but lost to Oscar De La Hoya in 1997 in an admirable and close performance.

At the end of his career, Whitaker suffered back to back losses to Felix Trinidad and Carlos Bojorquez. He wisely went into retirement after the Bojorquez fight in 2001at the age of 37.

Whitaker was inducted to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2006. He will always be remembered as one of the pound-for-pound greatest boxers of all time and is arguably the best lightweight in history.

Numerous boxing greats and celebrities took to Twitter to wish farewell to Whitaker and offer thoughts and prayers to his family.

https://twitter.com/BadouJack/status/1150804407640100865

https://twitter.com/boxingbooth/status/1150795107848904704

https://twitter.com/AntonioTarver/status/1150794794463059968

Whitaker had an indelible impact on the sport of boxing. He will be dearly missed and fondly remembered.