DATE: Wednesday, October 15, 1997           TAG: 9710150750

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   41 lines

A FITTING PIECE OF HARDWARE BECOMES A SWEETPEA FAVORITE

Pernell ``Sweetpea'' Whitaker has always contended world title belts don't matter to him. He once said he wasn't sure where his 1984 Olympic gold medal was.

But there is one piece of hardware Whitaker holds near and dear: His protective cup.

For 16 years, every time Whitaker has entered the ring, he's done so wearing the same boxing cup. And with it, his cup of boxing success runneth over.

``The cup has wound up pound-for-pound the best cup in the business,'' manager Lou Duva said as he watched Whitaker's trainer and co-trainer help him pull it on.

Whitaker won the Olympics in it. He won six world titles in it. He ascended to the ranks of the world's best fighter pound-for-pound in it.

``If the equipment could only talk,'' Duva said.

He will wear it again Friday when he meets Russian Andrei Pestriaev in a 10-round non-title fight at Foxwoods Resort in Connecticut.

Whitaker co-trainer/conditioning coach Bob Wareing said he hates the cup.

``I've got it held together with duct tape and crazy glue,'' Wareing said. ``It's almost a fossil.''

Wareing and trainer Ronnie Shields generally help Whitaker get into the thing, holding it as he steps through the straps. In training it's worn over the shorts, but during a fight it is worn underneath.

Whitaker, 33, has fought opponents who haven't been in boxing as long as his cup has. He said if he lost it - the ultimate low blow - he'd retire.

His handlers have tried to pry it away from him, to no avail.

``Nothing wrong with that cup,'' Whitaker said. ``It's form-fitted. It's my cup, I don't want a new one.''

It's also well-worn. A shoe repair man in the Hilltop section of Virginia Beach has stitched up the cup and restuffed the padding numerous times.

What happens to the cup when he retires?

``We'll put it in the Boxing Hall of Fame,'' Whitaker said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Steve Earley/The Virginian-Pilot

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