RIP Sweet Pea Whitaker

[Cosmo]

Hit and killed by a car in Virginia Beach. Damn. Great fighter.

Former boxing champ 'Sweet Pea' Whitaker hit and killed by vehicle in Virginia Beach

 

[playthrough]

Great fighter. I can still hear Howard Cosell pronouncing his name.

 

[Moderator1]

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

 

[Azrael]

One of the best ever.

Heartbreaking.

 

[swingline]

One of the best ever.

Heartbreaking.

Absolutely. On both counts.

 

[CD Boogie]

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.

 

[Scout]

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.

 

[qtlaw]

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

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

 

[Moderator1]

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.

 

[Moderator1]

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

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.

 

[Azrael]

Spent the afternoon on YouTube watching him slip punches.

An absolute genius.

 

[Scout]

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

 

[Sam Mills 51]

First remembered hearing about him in the 1984 Summer Olympics in L.A. What an incredible U.S. boxing team ... Pernell Whitaker, Evander Holyfield (the DQ was a crock), Mark Breland, Virgil Hill and Tyrell Biggs.

FWIW, I am not a massive boxing follower. But that many quality boxers on the same side?

RIP, Sweet Pea.

 

[HanSenSE]

First remembered hearing about him in the 1984 Summer Olympics in L.A. What an incredible U.S. boxing team ... Pernell Whitaker, Evander Holyfield (the DQ was a crock), Mark Breland, Virgil Hill and Tyrell Biggs.

FWIW, I am not a massive boxing follower. But that many quality boxers on the same side?

RIP, Sweet Pea.

Yep, once upon a time we had a strong amateur boxing program. Now? Did we even medal in Rio?

 

[Smallpotatoes]

Yep, once upon a time we had a strong amateur boxing program. Now? Did we even medal in Rio?

Shakur Stevenson won a silver.