WHITAKER, PERNELL-JULIO CESAR CHAVEZ TEMPORARY PASS (1993)

HISTORY: On September 10, 1993 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas welterweight champion Pernell Whitaker defended his title against light welterweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez. To most observers Whitaker was the better fighter and won the fight, but after 12 rounds the fight was declared a draw. Whitaker won on one scorecard, but the other two judges called the fight a draw. Before the scorecards were announced, Showtime television commentators Steve Albert, Bobby Czyz and Ferdie Pacheco were in unanimous agreement that Whitaker had clearly won the bout. When the fight was declared a draw, there was a smattering of boos from the pro-Mexican crowd of about 65,000. The vast majority of the media had Whitaker winning decisively and wondered what fight the judges were watching. Many also wondered how Dan Duva, Whitaker's promoter, could have yielded so thoroughly to Don King, Chavez's promoter, and the WBC in the selection of the judges, especially knowing, as he must have, that his man was not likely to win by a knockout. In fact, said Duva, after much heated negotiation Texas officials assembled a pool of five judges who had worked fights for the WBC, and he and King were allowed to strike one each. A reasonable compromise? Hardly, said Duva. "It was clear to me that the five were not among the best in the world," he said. "Early on I had suggested getting Jerry Roth of Nevada, the guy who is recognized as the best." But the Chavez camp did not want Roth. "My opinion," Duva said, "is that he was turned down because he had Meldrick Taylor ahead when Taylor fought Chavez." In that 1990 fight Chavez TKO'd Taylor when referee Richard Steele stopped the fight with two seconds remaining in the final round. After the fight, Duva said a number of WBC officials approached him with strange expressions of condolence. "They said to me, 'What are you complaining about? This is the perfect result. Everyone wins,'" Duva said. "That's just sickening. On the day of the fight everyone who knows me knows that I had one fear: that Pernell would get robbed. That these people, for their own political interest, would deny him his victory." Offered here is an original, Temporary Pass for this event.

FULL DESCRIPTION: This is an original Temporary Pass which names the fighters and which was used for Training Sessions and News Conferences attached to this event. Two holes atop for neck chain. Bold color and print. Not creased or torn. Clean front and back. 3 1/4" x 5 1/4."