THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 19, 1996 TAG: 9609190552
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MIAMI LENGTH: 92 lines
It happens to every great athlete.
First there is adulation and praise for supreme talent, followed by the inevitable march of time that begins to erode those skills.
Some would say the first crack in the foundation of future Hall of Fame boxer Pernell ``Sweetpea'' Whitaker came in his last outing. An ordinary fighter named Wilfredo Rivera nearly splattered paint on the masterpiece that is Whitaker's career.
Whitaker, a six-time world champion and a world title holder since February 1989, was battling illness and struggled to win a split decision over the unheralded Rivera on April 12.
For the first time in years, the 32-year-old Whitaker looked vulnerable.
``He won't openly admit that he was embarrassed, but I think he was,'' Whitaker trainer Ronnie Shields said Wednesday.
The World Boxing Council questioned the decision and mandated that Whitaker (38-1-1) give Rivera (23-1-1) an immediate rematch. It will be Friday at the James L. Knight Center. Whitaker's WBC welterweight title is on the line.
His reputation, Whitaker insists, is not.
``Everyone has their own opinion,'' Whitaker said Wednesday while lounging in his hotel suite, high above downtown Miami. ``In my opinion, I'm still the best fighter in the world. I haven't lost anything. I don't have anything to prove. I know I'm not slipping.''
But he has slipped in the rankings of the world's best fighter, pound-for-pound, which he ascended to after a controversial draw with Julio Cesar Chavez three years ago.
The Ring and Boxing Illustrated magazines now rank Roy Jones Jr. as the best fighter in the world and Oscar De La Hoya second. Whitaker is ranked third by The Ring, fifth by Boxing Illustrated.
``Pete realizes he's down in the stretch run of his career, but we still feel he's the best fighter in the world,'' said Main Events president Dino Duva, Whitaker's promoter.
A chance for Whitaker to make his case was dealt a blow Tuesday, when De La Hoya was diagnosed with tendinitis in his right shoulder. Whitaker and De La Hoya were tentatively scheduled to meet in the spring, after De La Hoya fought Miguel Angel Gonzalez on Oct. 12 and Chavez on Jan. 18.
``He's out for a long time,'' said publicist Lee Samuels of Top Rank, De La Hoya's promotional arm. Samuels said De La Hoya will retain the sequence of scheduled bouts, starting with Gonzalez in January. That means a Whitaker-De La Hoya fight is at least a year away.
And so Whitaker waits - again - for a big bout.
Duva said he will try to make International Boxing Federation welterweight champ Felix Trinidad Whitaker's next foe, but Duva and Don King, Trinidad's promoter, have been unable to iron out a deal for almost a year. Sugar Ray Leonard and World Boxing Association champ Ike Quartey are other possibilities.
Since the Chavez fight in September 1993, Whitaker has had six bouts. The only name opponent was James ``Buddy'' McGirt.
``There's only two exciting fights out there,'' Whitaker co-trainer/conditioning coach Bob Wareing said, referring to De La Hoya and Trinidad. ``That's been the problem Pete's whole career, he has to fight guys nobody knows.''
Like Rivera.
Even after their close encounter, Rivera is not well-known to boxing fans, as Wareing learned the last couple of months when people would ask him who Whitaker was fighting next.
``I'd tell people his next fight would be a rematch, and they would say, `Yeah, what's his name again?' '' Wareing said. ``I'm tired of fighting guys like that.''
Whitaker at first said he would refuse a Rivera rematch because he wants big-name foes. Now he contends that he is psyched up for it.
He definitely wants to prove a point. Whitaker's handlers say he has trained harder than ever and has been focused for the last three months.
``I'm going to be 100 percent,'' Whitaker said. ``I want to be the Pernell Whitaker of the late 1980s and early 1990s.''
Whitaker and his handlers contend that his sickness last time - they have called it the flu and a bad cold - impaired his ability. By the eighth round, Whitaker was gassed.
``He didn't have much left, but he had ring experience and that's what pulled him through the fight,'' Shields said.
It was, Whitaker's handlers insist, merely one bad outing. Nobody suggests that Dan Marino or John Smoltz may be washed up after one bad outing.
``Pete spoiled us in the past by overwhelming everyone he fought,'' Shields said. ``I hear people say, `He don't have but one or two fights left in him.' That's not what we're looking at; we think he has two or three good years left in him.
``As far as his ability, he's slowed a little bit, not much. I don't think he has the legs he had five years ago, but that comes with age. But he's a lot smarter than he was five years ago. He knows he doesn't have to fight three minutes every round. He knows when to fight and when not to fight.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
``In my opinion, I'm still the best fighter in the world,'' WBC
welterweight champion Pernell Whitaker said. by CNB