THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 30, 1994 TAG: 9407300381
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
A frustrated Pernell ``Sweetpea'' Whitaker has unleashed a flurry of verbal jabs at his management team.
Whitaker is upset that it is taking so long to secure a headline fight for him and that his handlers have failed to communicate with the world welterweight champion. Whitaker, who is heading to San Antonio on Sunday for a three-week training camp, threatened to retire if things don't change soon.
``The longer it takes them, the more consideration I'm giving to just stepping down,'' Whitaker said. ``I've been saying it and saying it and saying it: I can't lose my drive. If I'm not focused on what I'm doing anymore, there's no sense in me jumping in there with somebody.''
Whitaker said he wants to fight someone ``exciting'' and is not interested in a tune-up. He also said the money will have to be good for him to get back in the ring.
``I'm going to leave town, and if nobody's going to tell me what's going to happen when I come back, I'll start throwing in my resumes looking for something else,'' Whitaker said.
``If I'm not happy with certain situations, I'm just going to go ahead and retire.''
According to Kathy Duva of Main Events, which promotes Whitaker, the boxer should have an answer in a few days.
A James Toney-Roy Jones fight that Home Box Office has scheduled for Oct. 1 is on the verge of being moved to pay-per-view. That would open up a slot for a rematch of Whitaker's 1993 bout with James ``Buddy'' McGirt. That fight has already been signed for and slated for HBO.
Duva said Whitaker has expressed his anger and frustration to her husband, Dan, the president of Main Events.
``We understand why he's mad, and we're mad, too,'' Kathy Duva said. ``We're kind of all forced to sit and wait.
``There's no reason to rush headlong into something where he'll be compensated a lot less. I think he'll have his McGirt fight in a few days.
``We're about 80 percent of the way there. We know it's under control, we know it's OK and we know it's going to work out.''
Whitaker's fame and marketability peaked after his controversial draw with Julio Cesar Chavez last September, after which Whitaker was widely recognized as the world's best pound-for-pound fighter. But since then he has fought only Santos Cardona, a boxer of little renown, in April at Scope.
``He's ready to fight,'' co-trainer and conditioning coach Bob Wareing said. ``He wants to get a couple real big fights before he rides off into the sunset, and here he has to beg for fights.''
Whitaker (33-1-1) is upset with the failure of his management - co-manager Shelly Finkel and Dan Duva handle negotiations for Whitaker fights - to communicate with him about the alternatives.
``I do want to get back in there and perform,'' Whitaker said. ``But if I keep getting frustrated like this, I don't think I'll be able to recover from being mad at these people. I'm not happy with the way my management is working. I don't feel like I'm the focus point of what's going on right now.
``Nobody's telling me a damn thing. It's always Bob or myself calling up there to see what's happening. I'm not happy. I don't know what kind of game it is, but I'm serious about what I'm saying.''
This is the first time the five-time world champion has publicly criticized his handlers, who have steered his career since he turned pro almost 10 years ago.
Kathy Duva said if the Oct. 1 McGirt fight on HBO does not pan out, Whitaker likely will fight on CBS in the fall.
Whitaker, 30, signed a four-fight, $18 million deal with HBO in April but has not fought since.
According to Time Warner Sports president Seth Abraham, HBO wanted Whitaker-McGirt in September. Abraham said the network even turned down heavyweight champion Michael Moorer's request to fight on HBO in September because Whitaker-McGirt was penciled in.
``Then word came back Pete wasn't sure he wanted to fight McGirt; he wanted to fight someone else,'' Abraham said. ``We needed to get our program guide out for 20 million subscribers.
``Schedules don't wait, even for the best fighter in the world. The fight has no value to us, no matter how good it is, if our subscribers don't know it's coming.''
Wareing said Whitaker was never told that if he didn't agree to fight McGirt, he would lose the HBO date in September.
``We planned on fighting in September, and he would have fought McGirt,'' Wareing said.
HBO does one fight a month and had other commitments in October, November and December.
Whitaker's situation could be rectified thanks to Jones, who has demanded more money for fighting Toney.
Promoter Bob Arum told the Duvas on Thursday he would put that fight on pay-per-view, which HBO must now agree to. That's the decision the Duvas and Whitaker are waiting on.
``Hopefully somebody will tell me something big,'' Whitaker said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Pernell Whitaker
by CNB