THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 16, 1995 TAG: 9501160136
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Analysis
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
A Pernell ``Sweetpea'' Whitaker conference call with reporters last week centered around a guy named Julio Cesar - but not the one Whitaker will fight for the World Boxing Association junior middleweight title.
Whitaker will meet Julio Cesar Vasquez on March 4 in an Atlantic City Convention Center ballroom that will accommodate 3,000 fans.
It will be a big fight for Whitaker - a step up in weight to challenge a man with a 52-1 record who will have 5-inch height and 10-inch reach advantages.
But it's not the big fight.
That one is Julio Cesar Chavez, as it's been during much of the Virginia Beach boxer's 10 years as a pro. They met once in San Antonio, drawing a crowd of 60,000 as well as the largest pay-per-view audience ever for a pair of non-heavyweights. The official result was a draw, although the consensus was a clear victory for Whitaker.
Right after the decision was announced, boxing promoter Don King stood on the apron howling ``Rematch! Rematch!'' to reporters. He smiled broadly with his hands extended, as if ready to embrace the millions of dollars another bout between two of the world's best fighters, pound-for-pound, would generate.
That was 16 months ago. Whitaker has fought just twice since; his handlers claim their own calls for a rematch have gone unrequited by Chavez and King. The Whitaker camp contends that Chavez knows he can't beat Whitaker, and that King fears that another loss would diminish Chavez's ability to pack a box-office punch.
Thus, no rematch - yet.
Or is that ever?
``I can't answer yes or no, I just have to wait around,'' Whitaker said from his training camp in Houston. ``If the man don't want to fight me, you can't make him fight me.''
So the Whitaker camp last week announced a lineup of bouts with people who do want to.
After attempting to win a sixth world title in a fourth weight class against Vasquez at 154 pounds, Whitaker (34-1-1) will return to welterweight in July for a mandatory World Boxing Council title defense against Gary Jacobs.
Sometime in the final quarter of 1995, Whitaker is to meet WBA welterweight champ Ike Quartey in a title-unification bout. Quartey is scheduled to fight a mandatory defense on the Whitaker undercard in March.
What about Terry Norris, IBF welterweight titleholder Felix Trinidad or Frankie Randall, the only man with an official victory over Chavez? All toil for King, who has offered each to Whitaker.
``We have made a business decision we will fight no Don King fighters until we fight Julio Cesar Chavez,'' Whitaker promoter Dan Duva said. ``We'll fight them all, but first we have to get Julio Cesar Chavez.''
Duva said the '95 Whitaker schedule could be pushed back if a deal can be struck to fight Chavez this year.
King spokesman Michael Marley said, ``I wouldn't rule it out.'' But he also squawked in King-esque manner about Whitaker's refusal to fight other opponents King has offered, and said Chavez's schedule won't be dictated by the Whitaker camp.
Marley said that Chavez's schedule for the rest of 1995 is essentially set, and that Randall is penciled in for Chavez career fight No. 100 late in the year.
Here's the bottom line: It took almost four years of talk and buildup for the first Whitaker-Chavez bout to happen. Don't look for the second one to happen soon.
Chavez may truly be unwilling to fight Whitaker again. Or perhaps the promoters are milking this as long as possible - partly to generate interest, partly to ride their respective Brinks trucks in boxing gloves as far as possible.
What's left for either man to do after they fight each other again? For one, if not both, the rematch could precede retirement.
Whitaker, 31, has spoke of it frequently in recent years as his frequency of fights has diminished. His three fights within 10 months' time is a throwback to the kind of schedule Whitaker used to maintain.
As long as he's having fun getting up in the morning and going to the gym, Whitaker said, he'll keep going. He's accomplished all he ever hoped for and more, but still he's motivated to fight on.
Maybe it's Chavez that provides that motivation. If the rematch never occurs, through no fault of his own, Whitaker's glorious career will somehow lack an exclamation point. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Pernell Whitaker's next fight will be agaist Julio Cesar . . .
Vasquez, not Chavez. That rematch remains in boxing limbo.
by CNB