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RIP Sweet Pea Whitaker

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Cosmo, Jul 15, 2019.

  1. Cosmo

    Cosmo Well-Known Member

    Smallpotatoes likes this.
  2. playthrough

    playthrough Moderator Staff Member

    Great fighter. I can still hear Howard Cosell pronouncing his name.
     
    Smallpotatoes likes this.
  3. Moderator1

    Moderator1 Moderator Staff Member

    Unreal. I covered the Chavez robbery, the de la Hoya fight and several others. He was always very gracious to me. Saw him in a restaurant a while after he stopped fighting. He seemed to remember me, we had a good but brief conversation. Loved watching him fight. ROBBERY on the cover of SI after the Chavez mess.

    RIP
     
    Smallpotatoes likes this.
  4. Azrael

    Azrael Well-Known Member

    One of the best ever.

    Heartbreaking.
     
  5. swingline

    swingline Well-Known Member

    Absolutely. On both counts.
     
  6. CD Boogie

    CD Boogie Well-Known Member

    Some deaths strike me as more senseless and inappropriate than others. For a guy who faced down some real fear in our most gladiatorial sport to then get cut down by a freaking car hits home as one of those. Not even in a car accident, which is a common way to die. But as a pedestrian. SHM.

    RIP.
     
  7. Scout

    Scout Well-Known Member

    RIP

    Can someone edit this?

    Sweet Pea was Whitaker's nickname, and it fit perfectly. He was a master of getting hit and not getting hit back, a southpaw who slipped in and out of the pocket and rarely gave an opponent an opportunity to land a clean shot.
     
    Last edited: Jul 15, 2019
  8. qtlaw

    qtlaw Well-Known Member

    Yeah that Chavez fight was worst decision I’ve ever w; he absolutely dominated.
     
  9. Moderator1

    Moderator1 Moderator Staff Member

    Actually Sweet Pea was an accidental nickname. The story was written in the obit of the writer who came up with it, Abe Goldblatt. Pernell Whitaker went by Pete and his fans took to chanting Sweet Pete at his fights. Goldblatt misheard it and wrote, "With his fans chanting Sweet Pea," and it stuck. Whitaker and his camp loved it.
     
  10. Moderator1

    Moderator1 Moderator Staff Member

    I was very new to covering fights. A judge from another fight on the card was seated next to me. I turned to him in the 11th and said, "I don't know much but it sure looks one-sided to me." The guy said it was a complete asskicking. "You can make a case Whitaker has won every round."

    VERY pro Chavez crowd in San Antonio. When the decision was announced as a draw, they booed. Loudly. They knew. Their guy clearly got beat.
     
    Smallpotatoes likes this.
  11. Azrael

    Azrael Well-Known Member

    Spent the afternoon on YouTube watching him slip punches.

    An absolute genius.
     
    garrow likes this.
  12. Scout

    Scout Well-Known Member

    God, I miss boxing from the 70s, 80s and 90s.
     
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