Pernell Whitaker Sr. was an American professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 2001, and

Pernell Whitaker Sr. was an American professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 2001, and subsequently worked as a boxing trainer. He was a four-weight world champion, having won titles at lightweight, light welterweight, welterweight, and light middleweight; the undisputed lightweight title; and the lineal lightweight and welterweight titles. In 1989, Whitaker was named Fighter of the Year by The Ring magazine and the Boxing Writers Association of America. He currently holds the longest unified lightweight championship reign in boxing history at six title defenses. Whitaker is generally regarded as one of the greatest defensive boxers of all-time.

As an amateur, Whitaker won a silver medal in the lightweight division at the 1982 World Championships, followed by gold at the 1983 Pan American Games and 1984 Olympics. After his retirement in 2001, Whitaker returned to the sport as a trainer. In 2002, The Ring ranked him tenth in their list of "The 100 Greatest Fighters of the Last 80 Years". In 2006, Whitaker was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, in his first year of eligibility.

AMATEUR CAREER
Whitaker had an extensive amateur boxing career, having started at the age of nine. He had 214 amateur fights, winning 201, 91 of them by knockouts, though he said that he had up to 500 amateur fights. He lost to two-time Olympic Gold medalist Ángel Herrera Vera at the final of the World Championships 1982 but beat him four other times, notably in the final of the Pan American Games 1983 in Caracas. He crowned his amateur career with an Olympic gold medal in 1984, beating Luis Ortiz to obtain it.

LINK TO ARTICLE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pernell_Whitaker

TAGS: Pernell Whitaker, Pan American Games medalists in boxing, World light-middleweight boxing champions, World welterweight boxing champions, World light-welterweight boxing champions, World lightweight boxing champions, The Ring (magazine) champions, AIBA World Boxing Championships medalists, American male boxers, Sportspeople from Norfolk Virginia, Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics, Boxers from Virginia, Winners of the United States Championship for amateur boxers, International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees, Olympic gold medalists for the United States in boxing, Boxers at the 1983 Pan American Games, Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States, Southpaw boxers, International Boxing Federation champions, World Boxing Council champions, World Boxing Association champions, Boxers at the 1984 Summer Olympics, Olympic boxers of the United States, Doping cases in boxing

#GeneralKnowledge #AudibleWikiFactory #Audible #Wikipedia #PernellWhitaker