When Pernell ‘Sweet Pea’ Whitaker met Julio Cesar Chavez on September 10, 1993 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, it was for Pernell’s WBC welterweight title. Chavez insisted on a catchweight of 145 lbs. and no one was rooting harder for ‘Sweet Pea’ to win that night than me. Chavez was a complainer and never gave his opponents credit and was also Don King’s prize. You had to worry if a bout was close whenever boxing’s all time crook was involved, because the only thing King cared about was money.
Chavez was undefeated at 87-0 with 75 KO’s, while Whitaker’s record was 32-1 with 15 KO’s. In reality Whitaker never lost because he won nearly every round in his so called defeat to Jose Luis Ramirez in 1988. I didn’t want to watch this one with my brother, but chose to watch it alone in my bedroom so I could concentrate on the action without any distractions. The Showtime pay-per-view card undercard flew by and I had a VHS tape in my VCR ready to tape the fight as the opening bell rang.
I was amazed at the ease at which ‘Sweet Pea’ handled Chavez, landing punches at will and using his spectacular defensive skills to put round after round in the bank. Chavez had a granite chin and was never really hurt, but never hurt Whitaker either. It was easy to cheer Whitaker on to victory and as the final rounds came to a close, there was no doubt who the winner was. Incredibly, paid off judges scored the fight a draw, proving to me that Don King was behind it. With Mike Tyson in prison, Chavez was his moneymaker and there was no one that was going to take that away from him. At least Pernell kept his title, but anyone with 2 eyes could see he was robbed. Boxing had another black eye in a sport that was already corrupt. I was happy that ‘Sweet Pea’ had proved his superiority by such a huge margin that no one could question his skill level and it put him at the number 1 position of the best boxers pound for pound as the year 1993 neared the end.
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