LOS ANGELES, CA. (July 15, 2019): Golden Boy is saddened by the death of one the greatest fighters to ever lace a pair of gloves, Pernell “Sweet Pea” Whitaker. The legendary boxer passed away late Sunday night at the age of 55.

The native of Norfolk, Va. was one of the best defensive fighters of all time. He began his journey in the sport with a tremendous amateur career, which he completed by capturing a Gold medal in the 1984 Olympic Games. Whitaker represented the United States as part of an all-star team that included Evander “Real Deal” Holyfield, Meldrick “The Kid” Taylor, Mark Breland and other great fighters.

Whitaker then began a historic professional career where he captured world titles in the lightweight, super lightweight, welterweight and super welterweight divisions. In his journey to becoming a four-division world champion, Whitaker faced the likes of Jose Luis “El Zurdo” Ramirez, Azumah “The Professor” Nelson, Julio Cesar Chavez, James “Buddy” McGirt, Felix “Tito” Trinidad and Oscar De La Hoya.

Whitaker completed his career in 2001, and in 2006, he joined the International Boxing Hall of Fame. The legacy of this great fighter will not be forgotten.

“I’m deeply saddened by the loss of this great champion, who gave a tremendous amount of joy to those who watched him,” said Oscar De La Hoya, Chairman and CEO of Golden Boy. “It was an honor to share the ring with him. In terms of his defense and ring generalship, Pernell Whitaker was the best fighter that I ever fought. On behalf of everyone at Golden Boy, we send our prayers and condolences to his family and friends.”

“Pernell Whitaker was beautiful — both as a fighter and as a human being. An artist in the ring, “Sweet Pea” appeared on our World Championship Boxing platform for a decade (1990-1999), giving fans many unforgettable moments. His is a Hall of Fame legacy, which we are forever grateful to call our own heritage. Pernell’s passing is a great loss. We send our condolences to his family, as well as his extended family at Main Events and throughout the boxing community.”

Beginning tonight at 9:00 p.m. boxing returns to MSG Network when MSG Fight Night kicks off five straight Fridays of boxing programming with Buddy McGirt vs. Pernell Whitaker from Madison Square Garden. The 1993 welterweight title fight featured what most believed were the two best pound for pound boxers in the world. Whitaker won the title by beating McGirt by unanimous decision to become the WBC Welterweight Champion.

MSG Fight Night will run every Friday from August 5th through September 2nd with other fights including Evander Holyfield vs. George Foreman, Mike McCallum vs. Jose Vallejo, Riddick Bowe vs. Michael Dokes, Hector Camacho vs. Rafael Williams, Iran Barkley vs. Darrin Van Horn and Tomasz Adamek vs. Steve Cunningham.

NEW YORK (July 7, 2016) – Widely acknowledged as the preeminent Mexican-born fighter in history and one of the greatest prizefighters of all time, Julio Cesar Chavez will be honored as SHOWTIME Sports® airs classic Chavez fights in continuation of its year-long celebration of 30 years of SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING.

The month will be highlighted by four of the incomparable Chavez’ most memorable fights – against Hector “Macho” Camacho, Pernell “Sweet Pea” Whitaker, the second of three fights with Frankie Randall and the rematch with Meldrick Taylor. All four fights will air Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME EXTREME (full schedule below).

For years, the revered ring legend was considered the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter. In an amazing 25-year-career (1980-2005), Chavez fought 115 times (107-6-2 with 88 knockouts). At the highest level, he competed in four weight classes – 130 pounds to 147 pounds – and was a six-time world champion in three divisions.

He holds records for the most world title successful defenses (27), most title fight victories (31), most title fights (37) and the second-most title defenses won by knockout (21, after Joe Louis with 23). Chavez was 31-4-2 with 21 KOs in world title fights. A multiple Fighter of the Year winner, Chavez was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2011.

The fights will air on “Throwback Thursday” during the month of July at 10 p.m. ET/PT on SHOWTIME EXTREME® and are available on SHOWTIME ON DEMAND®, SHOWTIME ANYTIME® and via the network’s online streaming service.

Below is the schedule of SHOWTIME EXTREME premieres for the month of July:
TONIGHT/Thursday, July 7: Chavez vs. Camacho
Thursday, July 14: Chavez vs. Whitaker
Thursday, July 21: Chavez Randal II
Thursday, July 28: Chavez vs. Taylor II

“Throwback Thursday” Tidbits
WBC super featherweight champion Chavez (81-0) and his WBO counterpart, Camacho, fought on Sept. 12, 1992, in Las Vegas. JCC turned back a determined bid by “Macho” to take a unanimous 12-round decision.

Chavez had an 87-fight winning streak end when he and WBC welterweight champion Whitaker fought to a highly controversial 12-round majority draw in Sept. 10, 1993, at the Alamodome in San Antonio. One judge scored it for “Sweet Pea” by 115-113; the others had it 115-115.

Chavez was dealt his initial defeat on a 12-round split decision to nemesis Randall on Jan. 29, 1994. In the rematch the following May 7, Chavez won a razor-thin, split eight-round technical decision after the fight was stopped because of a large cut over Chavez’ eyebrow. Chavez and Randall would fight a third time, with Chavez taking the rubber match on a clear, unanimous 10-round decision on May 22, 2004.

Chavez went 2-0 against Taylor, winning by eighth-round knockout in a rematch on Sept. 17, 1994. In their initial fight four-and-a-half years earlier, Chavez rallied to win by 12th-round stoppage.
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About Showtime Networks:
Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CBS Corporation, owns and operates the premium television networks SHOWTIME®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ and FLIX®, and also offers SHOWTIME ON DEMAND®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ ON DEMAND and FLIX ON DEMAND®, and the network’s authentication service SHOWTIME ANYTIME®. Showtime Digital Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of SNI, operates the stand-alone streaming service SHOWTIME®. SHOWTIME is currently available to subscribers via cable, DBS and telco providers, and as a stand-alone streaming service through Apple®, Roku®, Amazon and Google. Consumers can also subscribe to SHOWTIME via Hulu, Sony PlayStation® Vue and Amazon Prime Video. SNI also manages Smithsonian Networks™, a joint venture between SNI and the Smithsonian Institution, which offers Smithsonian Channel™, and offers Smithsonian Earth™ through SN Digital LLC. SNI markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a pay-per-view basis through SHOWTIME PPV. For more information, go to www.SHO.com.