Whitaker Loses Split Decision to Ramirez

Jose Luis Ramirez of Mexico retained his World Boxing Council lightweight title Saturday with a controversial split decision over Pernell Whitaker of Norfolk, Va., at Levallois-Perret, France.

United Press International said that Whitaker, 24, appeared to dominate the 12-round fight, continuously connecting to the face of the 29-year-old champion with right jabs and combinations and slipping most of Ramirez’s punches.

“You can’t get a better win. You can’t do better than I did,” said Whitaker who revealed that he reinjured his left hand in the fight. “I beat him with one hand.”

Judge Newton Campos of Brazil scored the fight 118-113 for Ramirez, Louis Michel of France gave the champion a 116-115 edge and Harry Gibbs of Britain scored it 117-113 for Whitaker.

Whitaker’s manager, Lou Duva, had predicted in an interview Friday that the fight would be “stolen” from Whitaker by WBC President Jose Sulaiman, a native of Mexico, and yelled “you’re a thief” across the ring at Sulaiman after the fight.

“I can’t believe how brazen these people are. He had his people do that,” said Duva, who claimed Sulaiman “fixed” the fight so he could set up a bout between Ramirez and World Boxing Assn. lightweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez, both from Mexico.

“How the hell can they steal the title from a kid like that?” Duva screamed. “It wasn’t even close.”

It was Ramirez’s second successful defense of the title he has held twice. His record is 102-5.

Whitaker, an Olympic gold medalist in 1984, dropped to 16-1.