Boxing legend Pernell Whitaker has died aged 55 after being hit by a car on Sunday night in Virginia, USA.
The former four-weight world champion held titles from lightweight to super-welterweight and reigned as pound-for-pound king in the mid-1990s.
Pernell Whitaker was one of the great fighters of the 1990s.
A police report read: “The decedent has been identified as 55-year-old Pernell Whitaker. This remains an active investigation, no further information is available at this time.
“On Sunday, July 14, 2019, at 10:04pm, Emergency Communications received a call for vehicle/pedestrian accident in the intersection of Northampton Boulevard and Baker Road.
“When officers arrived on scene they located an adult male victim who had been hit by a vehicle. The victim succumbed to his injuries on the scene. The driver of the vehicle remained on scene with police.
“This case is still very active. Traffic on Northampton Boulevard westbound has been shutdown. The roadway will be closed for traffic for approximately two hours.
Traffic within this area is being rerouted at this time as officers from the department’s FACT Team investigate this fatality accident. Police are asking you to avoid this area if possible.
“This case remains under investigation by members of the Fatal Accident Crash Team (FACT). No other information is available at this time. This release will be updated as soon as information becomes available.
Pernell Whitaker held the undisputed WBA, WBC & IBF lightweight titles, the IBF super-lightweight title, the WBC welterweight title and the WBA super-welterweight title.
After winning gold as a lightweight at the 1984 Olympics, Whitaker turned professional and, despite controversially losing his first world title bout to Jose Luis Ramirez, soon became a champion.
He subsequently collected all of the major lightweight titles at the time to be recognised as undisputed champion.
The American then began to rise up through the weight classes and put together an astonishing unbeaten run between his controversial first loss in March 1988 and his disputed second in April 1997 to Oscar De La Hoya.
During this time he won titles at super-lightweight, welterweight and even super-welterweight, becoming recognised as pound-for-pound king between 1993-1997.
The draw he was awarded after fighting Julio Cesar Chavez will forever go down as one of the biggest robberies in boxing history, while ‘Sweet Pea’ himself will go down as arguably the greatest defensive fighter of all time.
Source: www.talksports.com