DATE: Wednesday, July 23, 1997              TAG: 9707230484

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   60 lines

HBO PULLS PLUG ON ``SWEETPEA'' RING RETURN WHITAKER LOSES $1 MILLION PAYDAY AGAINST WILLY WISE

The herniated discs in Ray Mercer's neck have created a pain in Pernell ``Sweetpea'' Whitaker's neck as well.

The Aug. 16 fight card at the Atlantic City Convention Center - which was to be Whitaker's return to the ring after his April loss to Oscar De La Hoya - has been scrapped.

``I was upset at first, but there's nothing that could be done,'' Whitaker said from West Palm Beach, Fla., where he arrived Sunday to begin a four-week training camp. ``I'm in great shape already, I'll just keep it going and be super, super, super ready for the next one.''

On Friday Mercer pulled out of his heavyweight match with Andrew Golota because of the neck injury. Virginia Beach's Whitaker in a tuneup bout against journeyman Willy Wise was not enough to carry the show.

``August was the perfect time for Whitaker to be back on, but unfortunately he was part of a co-featured show and the main event fell out,'' HBO Sports vice president Lou DiBella said Tuesday.

Main Events publicist Mike Boorman said HBO originally decided to drop the August card as soon as Mercer bailed, then the cable network vacillated.

By Tuesday afternoon a Lennox Lewis-Golota fight on TVKO - HBO's pay-per-view arm - was hastily put together for Oct. 4.

``Unfortunately, that knocked Whitaker-Wise off,'' Boorman said.

Whitaker said HBO ``beat around the bushes'' for a couple of days, and he opened the camp in Florida knowing it may be a short one. Tuesday afternoon he learned there was no reason to train.

``We'd been working five weeks on conditioning,'' Whitaker conditioning coach/co-trainer Bob Wareing said. ``We're a little bit bummed about it. They say we're going to go the 17th of October, so we've gotta do what we've gotta do.''

DiBella said the date, site and opponent for Whitaker's fall bout are all up in the air.

``We are now looking at a bunch of options and are working with Main Events on it,'' DiBella said.

Whitaker misses out on a $1 million payday for what amounted to a stay-busy fight for the six-time world champion against a no-name opponent in August. But the bigger loser may be Wise if he does not get a crack at Whitaker.

Wise was to make $85,000 for the bout, a substantial boost over his previous career-high payday of $10,000. The promoters were selling the bout almost as an act of charity for the fighter, whose 3-year-old son suffers from seizures.

Doctors have not been able to figure out the cause of the seizures, and Wise has acquired more than $75,000 worth of medical bills. He does not have insurance.

Boorman said HBO likely will give Whitaker a January date as well as the October bout. And then?

``Maybe April against De La Hoya if (promoter) Bob Arum is serious,'' Boorman said. ``If not, maybe Ike Quartey.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

ALLSPORT

``I was upset at first, but there's nothing that could be done,''

Whitaker said of his cancellation.

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