Перл Норфолка: Жас және жетістіктері

American boxer (1964–2019)
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.

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.

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. In January, 1997, Whitaker put his title on the line against Cuban fighter Diosbelys Hurtado. Hurtado gave Whitaker all he could handle and then some. Hurtado had Whitaker down on all the judges scorecards going into the 11th round: Hurtado scored flash knockdowns against Whitaker in rounds 1 and 6, and Whitaker had a point deducted in the 9th round for hitting Hurtado behind the head. But midway in the 11th round, Whitaker landed a left hook that hurt Hurtado and, in a rare display of aggression and power, unleashed a barrage of left handed power shots, pummeling Hurtado into the ropes, knocking Hurtado out and almost completely out of the ring before referee Arthur Mercante Jr. stopped the fight at the 1:52 mark, giving Whitaker the come from behind TKO win. The win set up a showdown with undefeated 1992 Olympic gold medalist Oscar De La Hoya.

He met Oscar De La Hoya on April 12, 1997, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Whitaker, defending his WBC championship and the mythical status as the best boxer in the world, pound for pound, succeeded in making De La Hoya look bad through his crafty defense, but he was unable to mount a sufficient offense to convince the judges. Whitaker was awarded an official knockdown in the 9th round and, according to CompuBox stats, outlanded De La Hoya in overall punches and connect percentage, using the jab as his primary weapon; but De La Hoya threw and landed almost twice as many power punches and had a slightly higher power punch connect percentage than Whitaker and showed more aggression in the fight, which may have been the key factors in De La Hoya winning by a disputed unanimous decision. At the end of the fight, the judges' scores were 111 115, 110 116, 110 116. The fight was much closer than what the scorecards showed, and many observers felt that Whitaker won the fight. It was another controversial decision against Whitaker, but it wasn't seen as a blatant robbery like the Ramirez or Chavez decisions. For his part, De La Hoya wasn't too pleased with his own performance against Whitaker and had hinted at a possible rematch to prove that he could do better against him. But Bob Arum, De La Hoya's promoter at that time, decided against it. Whitaker's next bout was against Russian born fighter Andrey Pestryayev in a world title elimination fight, where the winner would earn an automatic #1 contender spot for the WBA Welterweight crown, held at the time by Ike Quartey. Whitaker originally won the fight, but the win was nullified & changed to a No Decision after he failed a post fight drug test. Whitaker was suspended for six months, but the commission lifted the suspension after he agreed to random testing and his title bout with Quartey was to proceed as scheduled, however, the bout was cancelled after Whitaker tested positive for a second time.

On February 20, 1999, Whitaker suffered his first convincing defeat against the much bigger, much fresher Félix Trinidad, gamely taking the Puerto Rican the distance in an attempt to win Trinidad's IBF welterweight title. The fight began with both boxers displaying aggressive styles, which included excessive pushing. In the following rounds, both boxers used their jabs most of the time, with Trinidad gaining an advantage when Whitaker attempted to attack inside, eventually scoring a knockdown in round two. who defeated Kaizer Mabuza in March 2011 to win the vacant IBF light welterweight title.

Pernell Whitaker was born in Norfolk, Virginia on January 2, 1964, the son of Raymond Whitaker Sr. and his wife, Novella. The couple later divorced. They had four children together. Pernell also had a daughter from a prior relationship. Pernell graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in 1982 and later received an honorary bachelor's degree from Norfolk State University. His humble beginnings started in Youngs Park Housing Community where he was inspired to start his boxing career. Outside of the ring, Sweet Pea served his community and the youth in everything that he did. He sponsored many events at Norfolk State University and spent countless hours training youth at boxing camps and gyms. He also remained active in Norfolk and spoke at city council meetings on behalf of the residents in support of community improvements. Pernell had personal struggles and in June 2002 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, Pernell 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 and 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. Outside of the Virginia courtroom where the eviction proceedings took place, he called the ruling in his favor "a beautiful moment."

At about 10 p. m. on July 14, 2019, Whitaker was crossing the street in Virginia Beach, at the intersection of Northampton Boulevard and Baker Road, when he was struck and killed by a vehicle. He was 55. An autopsy stated that the cause of Whitaker's death was "multiple blunt force trauma."

No. (Number)ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes46Loss Carlos BojorquezTKO4 (10), Apr 27, 2001 45Loss40–3–1 Félix TrinidadUD12Feb 20, 1999 44NC (No contest)40–2–1 Andrey PestryayevUD12 Oct 17, 1997 43Loss40–2–1 Oscar De La HoyaUD12Apr 12, 1997 42Win40–1–1Diosbelys HurtadoTKO11 (12), Jan 24, 1997 41Win39–1–1 Wilfredo RiveraUD12Sep 20, 1996 40Win38–1–1 Wilfredo RiveraSD12Apr 12, 1996 39Win37–1–1 Jake RodríguezKO6 (12), Nov 18, 1995 38Win36–1–1Gary JacobsUD12Aug 26, 1995 37Win35–1–1 Julio César VásquezUD12Mar 4, 1995 36Win34–1–1 James McGirtUD12Oct 1, 1994 35Win33–1–1 Santos CardonaUD12Apr 9, 1994 34Draw32–1–1 Julio César ChávezMD (Majority draw)12Sep 10, 1993 33Win32–1 James McGirtUD12Mar 6, 1993 32Win31–1 Ben BaezKO1 (10), Dec 1, 1992 31Win30–1 Rafael PinedaUD12Jul 18, 1992 30Win29–1 Jerry SmithKO1 (10)May 22, 1992 29Win28–1 Harold BrazierUD10Jan 18, 1992 28Win27–1 Jorge PáezUD12Oct 5, 1991 27Win26–1 Poli DíazUD12Jul 27, 1991 26Win25–1 Anthony JonesUD12Feb 23, 1991 25Win24–1 Benjie MarquezUD10Nov 22, 1990 24Win23–1 Juan NazarioKO1 (12), Aug 11, 1990 23Win22–1 Azumah NelsonUD12May 19, 1990 22Win21–1 Freddie PendletonUD12Feb 3, 1990 21Win20–1 Martin GalvanTKO3 (? )Dec 11, 1989 20Win19–1 José Luis RamírezUD12Aug 20, 1989 19Win18–1 Louie LomeliTKO3 (12), Apr 30, 1989 18Win17–1 Greg HaugenUD12Feb 18, 1989 17Win16–1 Antonio CarterTKO4 (10), Nov 2, 1988 16Loss15–1 Jose Luis RamírezSD (Split decision)12Mar 12, 1988 15Win15–0 Davey MontanaTKO4 (10), Dec 19, 1987 14Win14–0 Miguel SantanaTKO6 (12), Jul 25, 1987 13Win13–0 Jim FloresTKO1 (10)Jun 28, 1987 12Win12–0 Roger MayweatherUD12Mar 28, 1987 11Win11–0 Alfredo LayneUD10Dec 20, 1986 10Win10–0 Rafael GandarillaUD10Oct 9, 1986 9Win9–0 Rafael WilliamsUD10Aug 16, 1986 8Win8–0 John MontesUD10Mar 9, 1986 7Win7–0 Jesus De la CruzTKO1 (8), Nov 12, 1985 6Win6–0 Teddy HatfieldKO (Knockout)3 (8), Aug 29, 1985 5Win5–0 John SenegalTKO2 (8), Jul 20, 1985 4Win4–0 Nick ParkerUD (Unanimous decision)6Apr 20, 1985 3Win3–0 Mike GoldenTKO4 (6), Mar 13, 1985 2Win2–0 Danny AveryTKO4 (6)Jan 20, 1985 1Win1–0 Farrain ComeauxTKO (Technical knockout)2 (6), Nov 15, 1984

Date Fight Billing Buys NetworkWhitaker vs. De La HoyaPound for Pound720,000HBO