Boxing : Three U.S. Olympians Win Easily

Olympic gold medalists Meldrick Taylor and Pernell Whitaker, displaying poise and effective body punching, scored their second straight professional victories Sunday at Harrah’s Marina. Taylor won on a six-round decision and Whitaker won by stopping his opponent in four rounds.

Evander Holyfield, the Olympic light heavyweight bronze medalist, also scored a six-round decision over Eric Winbush for his second straight victory.

Taylor, 18, of Philadelphia, the Olympic featherweight champion who is fighting as a lightweight, scored effectively to the body throughout his fight and won all six rounds on all three officials’ cards against Dwight Pratchett of Chicago.

“I feel satisfied with the work, going six rounds with an experienced fighter,” said Taylor, who won his pro debut on a first-round knockout. “I was a little frustrated. He was holding behind the head and coming straight in with his head.”

But Taylor, 135 1/2 pounds, one pound more than his opponent, kept his cool.

Pratchett had gone 10 rounds with lightweight contender Jimmy Paul and former featherweight champion Juan LaPorte in losing efforts.

Whitaker, 134 3/4 pounds, the Olympic lightweight champion from Norfolk, Va., knocked down Danny Avery of Lynn, Mass., in the second round and had him bleeding from the nose and mouth. But Lou Duva, working Whitaker’s corner, didn’t think the fighter was punching enough to the body and said after the third round that Whitaker wasn’t going to get any water until he did.

“I got water after the fight,” said Whitaker, who went to the body in the fourth round and hurt the 134-pound Avery. At the end of the round, Dr. Frank Doggett stopped the fight.

“I didn’t seek to stop him,” Whitaker said. “I wanted to get the work. I had never gone four rounds.”

Whitaker won his pro debut on a second-round knockout.

It was the second straight six-round decision for Holyfield, who did almost all of the fighting against the 33-year-old Winbush, whose biggest win was a knockout of former lightweight champion Matthew Saad Muhammad. Winbush spent most of the time walking around the ring motioning Holyfield forward.