Pernell Whitaker was an American professional boxer who died at the age of 55! He was a four- weight world champion!
So let’s dive into some trivia and facts about this professional boxer!
- Pernell Whitaker was born in January 2, 1964
- He died in July 14, 2019
- He 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
- In 1989, Whitaker was named Fighter of the Year by The Ring magazine and the Boxing Writers Association of America
- From 1993 to 1997, The Ring ranked him as the best active boxer in the world, pound for pound
- He currently holds the longest unified lightweight championship reign in boxing history at 6 title defenses
- Whitaker is generally regarded as one of the greatest defensive boxers of all-time
- 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
- 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
- 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
- A southpaw, Whitaker was known for his outstanding defensive skills and for being a strong counterpuncher
- He was not a particularly hard puncher or knockout artist
- But applied a consistent offense while being extremely elusive and difficult for his opponents to hit with a solid punch
- As a youngster, Whitaker was known to friends and family as “Pete”
- And when he began to emerge as a top amateur, fans in his hometown of Norfolk used to serenade him with chants of “Sweet Pete”
- This was misinterpreted by a local sportswriter as “Sweet Pea”
- When this erroneous report came out in the local newspaper, the new nickname stuck
- As of December 2005, Whitaker became a trainer in his home state of Virginia
- While the decline of speed and agility pushed him into retirement, his knowledge of the ring and components led him to seek out up-and-coming boxers and train them to fight the way he did
- His first fighter, Dorin Spivey, had several matches scheduled for 2006
- He trained young prospect Joel Julio
- Pernell 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
- There Brock was knocked out in the 7th round
- 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 welterweight title
- Pernell married Rovanda Anthony on December 21, 1985
- In the boxing ring at the Virginia Beach Pavilion Convention Center
- The couple later divorced
- They had four children together
- Dominique, the late Pernell Jr., Dantavious, and Devon
- Whitaker also had a daughter, Tiara
- From a prior relationship
- In June 2002, Whitaker 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, Whitaker 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
- 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
- The eviction proceedings took place at the Virginia courtroom
- Whitaker called the ruling in his favor “a beautiful moment”
- On July 14, 2019, Whitaker was crossing the street in Virginia Beach, at the intersection of Northampton Boulevard and Baker Road
- There he was struck and killed by a vehicle
Got anything to add?