A Tribute To Pernell ‘Sweet Pea’ Whitaker

It’s crazy to say, but ‘Sweet Pea’ is one of the unluckiest fighters ever. The only thing seemingly able to beat a prime Whitaker was not another boxer but boxing politics. They took what would have been significant wins away from him when he clearly outboxed Jose Luis Ramirez and an undefeated Julio Cesar Chavez, and arguably Oscar De La Hoya too. Nevertheless, the hardcore fans and true supporters of the sweet science have respect and admiration for Whitaker. They have not allowed what Lennox Lewis referred to as ‘politricks’ to diminish Whitaker’s legacy.

When boxing historians mention modern greats such as Roberto Duran and Sugar Ray Leonard alongside the great boxers of old like Sugar Ray Robinson and Henry Armstrong, Whitaker should be mentioned alongside them. Sweet Pea is one of the most skillful and naturally gifted fighters ever. He had an otherworldly boxing IQ to match his genius defensive prowess. Throughout the history of a sport that has been blessed with southpaws such as Tiger Flowers, Vicente Saldivar, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, and Manny Pacquiao, Sweet Pea is arguably the greatest southpaw of them all.

Pernell Whitaker: The Early Years

Whitaker had a decorated amateur career, winning a silver medal at the 1982 World Boxing Championships, gold at the Pan-American Games in 1983, and Olympic gold as Captain of the legendary US team at the Los Angeles 1984 Games. He subsequently became a four-weight division champion as a professional.

After 11 consecutive victories to kick-start his professional career, Whitaker had his first big step up against former and future world champion Roger Mayweather in March 1987, in what would be his toughest fight as a lightweight. After knocking down and hurting Mayweather in the opening round, Whitaker had to survive a knockdown later in the fight in round nine, managing to survive after being virtually out on his feet. In just his 12th fight, Whitaker defeated Mayweather via unanimous decision, fighting like a veteran and notching an extremely impressive victory so early in his career. After three more fights, Whitaker lost a very controversial split decision in one of the worst decisions in history against Jose Luis Ramirez in a world lightweight title challenge for the WBC belt.

In his 16th fight against a fighter in Ramirez with a record of 100–6 who had turned professional at 14, Whitaker dominated and was blatantly robbed. His ring generalship, so early in his career, along with his timing against a veteran, was just phenomenal and a beautiful sight to behold. His first setback, ironically, was an indicator of special things to come.

Whitaker Wins First World Title And Never Looks Back

Despite widespread outrage, Whitaker did not receive an immediate rematch. But he received his second chance at a world championship a year later, in 1989, winning his first lightweight world title, the IBF strap, with a flawless performance to beat Greg Haugen in a convincing points victory. Whitaker floored Haugen, amateur or professional, for the first time in his entire career. The following series of events in Whitaker’s Hall of Fame career resulted in one of the most dominant lightweight reigns in history. After one defense of his title against the unbeaten Louie Lomeli, Sweet Pea got an early chance for redemption in a rematch against Ramirez and got his revenge with a perfect performance, which left the result beyond dispute this time, adding the vacant WBC title to his IBF belt. Deservedly, Sweet Pea was named Ring Magazine’s Fighter of the Year in 1989.

In 1990, Whitaker inflicted the first defeat in 8 years on Azumah Nelson. There had not been an undisputed lightweight champion since Roberto Duran‘s destructive reign of terror in the 1970s. This changed once Whitaker knocked out WBA lightweight champion Juan Nazario in the first round in August 1990. Whitaker proceeded and embarked on an era of glory, beginning his domination of the sport over the next few years, which stretched until 1997. 

In 1992, he defeated Rafael Pineda to become the IBF super-lightweight champion. Then, in March 1993, Whitaker became the lineal and WBC welterweight champion after outpointing James “Buddy” McGirt. This set up “The Fight” against the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. By the time he was in the ring set to face Chavez at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, in front of a 60,000 pro-Chavez crowd, Whitaker was on a 17-fight winning streak and was a three-weight division champion at lightweight, super lightweight, and welterweight.

Whitaker was defending his WBC welterweight title against an undefeated Chavez, who had a mind-boggling record of 87–0 with 75 KOs. Instead of running away, Whitaker did everything he could to accommodate the fight happening, and once it did, he showed everybody just how special he really was. He out-boxed Chavez and beat one of the best inside fighters of all time on the inside, besting Chavez at the Mexican’s own game. Sweet Pea should have become the first man to defeat the legendary Mexican but got awarded a draw after the judge’s scorecards. Nevertheless, that night, Whitaker established his pound-for-pound supremacy. In 1995, Whitaker moved up to beat the considerably bigger Julio Cesar Vasquez, who had a record of 53–1, to become WBA super-welterweight champion, becoming only the fourth fighter in history after Roberto Duran, Thomas Hearns, and Sugar Ray Leonard to become a four-weight division champion.

Life After Boxing

In the latter stages of Whitaker’s career, drugs and alcohol began to take effect, but this wasn’t before cementing a lasting legacy.

Arguably, years after his prime, Sweet Pea came up against a prime Oscar De La Hoya in 1997. De La Hoya was the 1992 Olympic gold medallist with a record of 23–0 with 20 KOs and was a three-weight division champion, having won titles at super-featherweight, lightweight, and super-lightweight. On his 147 lbs debut, De La Hoya courageously faced Whitaker, who was making the 9th defense of his WBC welterweight title. Though not as controversial as the Ramirez and Chavez fights, Whitaker harshly lost on points yet again. This was the most controversial fight of De La Hoya’s career. As De La Hoya would later acknowledge, Sweet Pea was the best he ever fought with regard to defense and ring generalship. Whitaker was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2007.

The main objective of boxing is simple: ‘Hit and don’t get hit.’ With that in mind, if anyone wishes to see what perfection inside a boxing ring looks like, watch Sweet Pea in full flow.