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Home , Alana Beard, Buddy McGirt, Lightweight, Lou Duva, Oscar De La Hoya, Pernell Whitaker

D2 TUESDAY, JULY 16, 2019 LATIMES.COM/SPORTS

PERNELL ‘SWEET PEA’ WHITAKER, 1964-2019 By all accounts, a unanimous winner

then the people can say who By Manouk Akopyan won the fight. I should have gotten 10 out of 12 rounds. It , her- was a shutout. For 12 rounds, alded as one of the greatest he took punishment, he took boxers to ever lace up a pair a beating. He can have the ti- of gloves, died Sunday night tle but we know who the best after he was hit by a pickup fighter is.” truck while walking across a De La Hoya offered his thoroughfare in Virginia. condolences Monday after Whitaker, 55, died from learning of Whitaker’s his injuries on the scene. Vir- death. ginia Beach Police said they “In terms of his defense were investigating the cir- and ring generalship, Per- cumstances of his death. nell Whitaker was the best The driver of the vehicle re- fighter that I ever fought. It mained at the scene after was an honor to share the the crash. ring with him,” De La Hoya Nicknamed “Sweet Pea,” said. “I’m deeply saddened Whitaker was a Hall of Fame by the loss of this great fighter, a 1984 Olympic gold champion, who gave a medalist and a perennial tremendous amount of joy pound-for-pound king dur- to those who watched him.” ing his 17-year career. The The penultimate bout of Norfolk-born southpaw was Whitaker’s career was a one- a four-division champion sided decision loss to Felix who finished with 40 wins Trinidad in 1999, and a pro- —17 via — four verbial passing of the torch losses and one draw. to the next generation. In his His lone draw against final fight in 2001, Whitaker Julio Cesar Chavez in 1993 broke a collarbone during a was arguably Whitaker’s fourth-round stoppage loss finest hour as a professional; to the unheralded Carlos but the final scorecards from Bojorquez and retired. the mega-fight told a differ- During retirement, Whit- ent story. aker stayed involved in the By all accounts, Whitaker sport as a trainer in the Vir- handily beat Chavez in front ginia Beach area and made of more than 60,000 fans at appearances at promotional the in San An- events. He was scheduled to tonio. Chavez was unde- be in this Sat- feated in 87 fights, and Whit- Ron Frehm urday for the Manny Pac- aker out-landed him 311 to THE ‘SWEET’ TASTE OF VICTORY quiao-Keith Thurman fight 220 and threw 153 more Pernell Whitaker celebrates with trainer , left, after referee Larry Hazard raised his hand to and partake in ceremonial punches. It’s considered one declare him the winner over James “Buddy” McGirt in 1993, earning him his third world championship. activities around town. of the most controversial de- “He was a flawless cisions in history, fighter,” wrote and the dubious scores elic- defensive tacticians. problems throughout his ca- championships. real great fighter and great on Twitter. ited a Sports Illustrated cov- Trained by the duo of Lou reer and into retirement. He “I am saddened to learn man,” McGirt told The “One of the best fighters er with “Robbed!” written on Duva and , served time in prison after of my good friend and Times. “It was an honor to be to ever do it,” Floyd May- it as Whitaker connected Whitaker fought out of a violating his probation on a Olympic teammate Pernell in the ring with him twice. In weather Jr. said in an Insta- with a right hand on crouch and slipped around conviction for cocaine pos- Whitaker’s untimely pass- the second fight, he hit me so gram post featuring a pic- Chavez’s chin. flustered opponents to session in 2003. ing,” Holyfield tweeted Mon- much I thought I was sur- ture he took with Whitaker “I knew this might hap- much fanfare en route to be- According to the Virginia day. “We share so many rounded. May God bless his just two days ago. pen,” Whitaker said after the coming a champion in the Sports Hall of Fame, where great memories. He was soul and may he rest in eter- “Pernell Whitaker was fight. “But still it was like a , super light- he is also an inductee, Whita- small in stature but yet so nal peace.” beautiful — both as a fighter bad dream. Last night it was weight, and su- ker won 201 of 214 amateur big in heart and skills inside Whitaker’s career was and as a human being … giv- like someone put a knife in per welterweight divisions. fights before turning pro af- the ring, there will never be seemingly embroiled in con- ing fans many unforgettable me and twisted it.” He turned pro at Madison ter the 1984 Summer Games another like him. He will troversial defeats. He also moments,” HBO, which A Sports Illustrated cov- Square Garden on national in . Whitaker truly be missed.” lost a disputed decision to broadcast 19 of Whitaker’s er in 1994 billed him as “The TV in 1984 and first became a was part of one of the best Whitaker beat Hall of in 1997, a fights, announced in a state- Best,” and the label was an world champion by out- U.S. boxing teams in Famers and fight many in boxing said ment. “He was an artist in apt compliment for Whita- pointing Greg Haugen in Olympic history, highlight- James “Buddy” McGirt that Whitaker won. Stat- the ring.” ker, a pure pugilist in the 1989, a year in which he was ing a group of 11 medalists (twice), as well as Roger istics showed that Whitaker ring who morphed his body declared “Fighter of the that also featured Evander Mayweather. He avenged his out-punched De La Hoya Akopyan has been a with “Matrix”-like motions Year” by Ring Magazine and Holyfield and Meldrick Tay- first loss, which came in 1988 232 to 191. member of the Boxing and danced around punches the Boxing Writers Assn. of lor. Whitaker also won a gold against Jose Luis Ramirez, a “Of course [I won], but Writers Assn. of America with panache. His masterful America. medal at the 1983 Pan fighter with 102 career wins, that really doesn’t matter,” since 2011 and has written for “hit but don’t get hit back” Whitaker dealt with co- American Games and a sil- by beating him in 1989. Whitaker said after the fight. USA Today and the style is a blueprint today for caine addiction and alcohol ver medal at the 1982 world “The boxing world lost a “As long as the world saw it, Guardian.

PRO CALENDAR TUE. WED. THU. FRI. SAT. Ogwumike voted to All-Star team 16 17 18 19 20

at Phila. at Phila. at Phila. MIAMI game while shooting 45.8% By Mia Berry 4 4 9:30 a.m. 7 6 from the field. She is third in SNLA SNLA YouTube SNLA SNLA the league in rebounding, DODGERS Sparks forward Nneka fifth in steals (1.9) and 10th in Ogwumike was selected to scoring. HOUSTON HOUSTON at at Seattle play in her sixth WNBA All- For the week ending July 7 7 6 7 6 Star game, the league an- 14, Ogwumike was named FSW FSW FSW FSW FSW nounced Monday. Ogwu- WNBA player of the week, ANGELS mike was voted as a reserve averaging 18 points, 10.3 re- for the July 27 game in Las bounds and 3.67 steals, in- LAFC Vegas. cluding 22 points against the 7 She will join teammate Indiana Fever and 17 points ESPN , who was in an overtime victory over GALAXY named a WNBA All-Star the Dream. starter July 11. Ogwumike Ogwumike is joined by at GALAXY and Gray have been the front-court reserves De- 7 most consistent players for Wanna Bonner, Tina ESPN the Sparks this season, as Charles, Candice Dupree, LAFC the team has dealt with in- and Alyssa juries to , Thomas. at New York DALLAS Alana Beard, Maria Vadeeva for- Noon 12:30 and Alexis Jones. ward and SpecSN, SpecSN A former league MVP, Las Vegas Aces forward A’ja Marcio Jose Sanchez Associated Press NBA TV SPARKS Ogwumike is averaging 15.5 Wilson will serve as team SPARKS forward , left, was se- points and 9.5 rebounds per captains. lected as a reserve to her sixth WNBA All-Star team. Shade denotes home game

TODAY ON THE AIR MORNING BRIEFING TIME EVENT ON THE AIR BASEBALL NJ Devil checks himself into the glass 4 p.m. Dodgers at TV: SNLA R: 570, 1020 glass shatters upon impact, 8 Houston, 5.8% points. 4 p.m. Toronto at TV: MLB By Houston Mitchell the squealing stops and the 8 Denver, 4.6% “My greatest memory, 7 p.m. Houston at Angels TV: FSW and Chuck Schilken poor devil is left standing 8 Portland, 3.1% though, must be the 1974 R: 830, 1330 8 Utah, 2.7% USC-Notre Dame football BOWLING there as everyone stares. The Devils “My son’s birthday 8 Other, 1.7% (, game. I was in the Navy, TV: 4 p.m. PBA League, quarterfinals FS1 mascot apparently is OK ended with a bang!” Phoenix and Sacramento stationed in Virginia, when I HORSE RACING after running into and shat- Lawrence Chiu said in a received the most votes in watched the game on TV. 5 p.m. Race Night TV: TVG tering a glass window at a tweet. “We are so ready for “other”). After sportingly spotting SOCCER child’s birthday party. No this season thanks NJ Devil Notre Dame a 24-0 advan- TV: 11:30 a.m. Dynamo Dresden vs. Saint-Germain beIN1 one was injured. for coming to the birthday Your favorite tage shortly before halftime, 11:30 a.m. Real Betis vs. Reading TV: ESPND Which is good, not only party.” USC then scored 55 unan- TENNIS for everyone involved but sports moment swered points in 17 minutes. 3 a.m. ATP Bastad and Umag, WTA Bucharest, early TV: Tennis also the rest of us, who can Sports poll What is your favorite L.A. Anthony Davis scored four rounds now feel free to laugh at the The Dodgers have the sports moment? Here’s the TDs, including returning 8 a.m. Center Court, ATP Newport, Bastad and Umag, TV: Tennis hilarious and totally bizarre best record in baseball, but next one in our occasional the second-half kickoff for a WTA Bucharest, early rounds videos of the incident some fans are concerned series. Email me your favor- score. After USC took the 4 p.m. World Team Tennis, Orlando at Springfield TV: CBSSN posted to social media this that their bullpen will keep ite sports moment (hous- lead, I called the local radio weekend by the Devils and them from winning a World [email protected]) DJ to play the USC fight the birthday boy’s father. Series title. So this week’s and it might run in a future song. He didn’t have a copy, NJ Devil and a bunch of question is, do you think the Morning Briefing. but asked me to continue squealing children can be Dodgers will win the World Our next one comes from giving him updates seen playing with a para- Series this year? Vote in our Pete Peterson of Camarillo: throughout the game. Vot- Socal Auto Dealer Marketplace chute at an indoor play area poll at poll.fm/10364296 or “The Dodgers moving to ing for the Heisman Trophy New and used car dealer specials that has giant window email me at houston.mitch- L.A. in 1958 was big, then that year concluded prior to Visit panes serving as the front [email protected]. Results bigger in 1959 when they the end of the season. Many latimes.com/DealerSpecials wall. Everyone seems to be will be revealed next week. won the World Series. Kirk writers stated they would to view current new and used car specials from reputable having a great time until the Results from last week’s Gibson got my vote in 1988 have changed their vote had auto dealerships throughout Southern California. devil suddenly lets go of the poll: We asked, “Who will for World Series MVP. How they been allowed to wait colorful toy and inexplicably win the NBA’s Western great was it when a rookie until after this game. Archie VOLKSWAGEN HONDA runs straight into one of the Conference next season?” point guard replaced Hall of Griffin may not have be- windows. After 6,102 votes, here are Farmer Kareem Abdul- come the only two-time In a scene that could the results: Jabbar at center for the final Heisman winner. Anthony New Century VW Honda World #1 Volume Dealer in O.C. have come from one of those 8 Lakers, 45.4% game of the 1980 NBA Fi- Davis had 11 TDs against Das Auto 13600 Beach Blvd., Westminster Southwest Airlines “Wanna 8 Clippers, 29.4% nals? took Notre Dame in three 1220 So. Brand Blvd., Glendale (714) 890-8900 (562) 598-3366 get away?” commercials, the 8 Golden State, 7.3% over that game, scoring 42 games.” (800) 813-8998 www.ochondaworld.com