THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 2, 1994 TAG: 9410020213
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 120 lines
James ``Buddy'' McGirt entered the ring at Scope Saturday night with ``2ND TIME AROUND'' emblazoned on the back of his robe.
The result was the same as the first time around 19 months ago.
Pernell ``Sweetpea'' Whitaker scored an easy unanimous decision in his World Boxing Council welterweight title defense before a hometown crowd of 9,158, the largest ever to witness a live boxing event in Virginia.
Judge Chuck Giampa scored it 117-113, Rudy Ortega had it 118-112 and Steve Weisfeld saw it 117-110 for Whitaker. Whitaker (34-1-1) was a 7-1 favorite at fight time, according to the MGM Grand Casino in Las Vegas.
This time McGirt (64-4-1) had no excuses, as he used his surgically repaired left shoulder throughout the fight. He just didn't use either hand anywhere near as well as Whitaker.
``I ain't one to brag on myself, but tonight I showed I was the best, pound-for-pound,'' Whitaker said.
Whitaker expended almost as much energy with a running session of trash talking to McGirt supporters at ringside as he did with his opponent in the ring. ``We're taking that belt back to New York tonight, Whitaker,'' said a McGirt backer before the fight. Whitaker blew him a kiss and winked at him.
Known as a couple of classic boxers, the fighters came out slugging it out, wasting no time going after each other with flurries of blows in the first round.
In the second round McGirt pressed the action, and sent Whitaker to the canvas with about a minute left in the round. Whitaker was up immediately, smiling as if the blow did no damage. But referee Bill Connors gave Whitaker a quick count before resuming action. Two judges gave the round to McGirt and one saw it even, making it his second-best round of the night in the judges' eyes. All three gave McGirt the seventh.
It was the first time Whitaker was sent to the canvas since the Poli Diaz fight in July of 1991, although that one was a slip that was ruled a knockdown. The last time Whitaker went down hard was when Roger Mayweather decked him in March 1987.
``The knockdown caught me off balance, didn't really bother me,'' Whitaker said. ``It made me more aware of what I had to do.''
Whitaker went down again in the third, but Connors ruled it a slip. The champ belly-flopped in the middle of the ring on a slip in the ninth.
After a decent start for McGirt in the first four rounds, he seemed clearly tired by the fifth. Whitaker began effectively sticking the jab, setting McGirt up for combinations, uppercuts and flurries and consistently landing blows while standing toe-to-toe with McGirt. It was the classic teaching of trainer George Benton - make him miss and make him pay.
Most of all, Whitaker's jab rained down on the challenger.
``Sometimes I could handle it, sometimes I couldn't,'' McGirt said of Whitaker's right.
It took a toll on McGirt, who developed a mouse under his left eye by the sixth round. The challenger's arms became heavy and his legs lost their bounce. Whitaker became the busier fighter, and at the end of the sixth round landed seven unanswered blows. At the end of the eighth round Whitaker was unloading on McGirt as he leaned on the ropes.
``He was the better man,'' McGirt said. ``He did what he had to do. As the fight wore on, I found myself trying to knock him out.''
By the 10th round, Whitaker was coasting, peppering McGirt consistently while absorbing infrequent blows. McGirt's left eye was closing, while Whitaker was using his eyes to wink at people ringside during clinches. McGirt clearly was shot, while Whitaker showed no signs whatsoever of fatigue.
Asked if he was intentionally peppering McGirt's shoulder, Whitaker replied: ``I peppered his face, too.''
By the 12th round, McGirt had blood on his mouthpiece.
The greatest danger in the latter rounds for Whitaker was what it often is - boredom, which caused the occasional lapses of concentration and carelessness. But McGirt didn't have enough left to take advantage of it.
In the 12th round, Whitaker dared McGirt to hit him, clowning away the last 90 seconds of the fight. McGirt couldn't find him.
Now Whitaker is hoping to find someone - Julio Cesar Chavez.
The question is what's next for Whitaker? Promoter Dan Duva met for two hours Saturday with president Seth Abraham of Time Warner Sports - which owns HBO - to try to determine that. The McGirt fight was the second of Whitaker's four-fight, $18 million deal with the cable network.
Whitaker wants Chavez in a rematch of their controversial draw of 13 months ago. HBO wants Whitaker-Chavez. But Abraham isn't optimistic.
``We'll do everything we can to make Chavez, but that fight's not going to happen,'' Abraham said.
Abraham said until Mike Tyson gets out of prison and becomes a viable money-maker again for King, Chavez is his only meal ticket. Abraham contends, as the Duvas have since the last fight, that Chavez would lose conclusively to Whitaker in a rematch and his career would be over.
``It would be like throwing him to the wolves,'' Abraham said.
What's left? Maybe Frankie Randall, who beat Chavez. Maybe IBF welterweight champion Felix Trinidad or WBA title holder Ike Quartey - but Whitaker has said previously he isn't interested any of them.
``If I don't get a Chavez fight next, I have to consider other options,'' Whitaker said. ``But I really want Chavez next.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photos
CHRISTOPHER REDDICK/Staff
MOTOYA NAKAMURA/Staff
Pernell ``Sweetpea'' Whitaker, right, moves in on James ``Buddy''
McGirt enroute to scoring an easy unanimous decision before a
hometown crowd of 9,158 at Scope.
CHRIS REDDICK/Staff
James ``Buddy'' McGirt, left, misses with a left against Pernell
``Sweetpea'' Whitaker, who scored an easy unanimous decision
Saturday night at Scope.
Sweetpea Whitaker exchanges blows with Buddy McGirt.
Graphic
HOW THE JUDGES SCORED IT
[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]
by CNB