Whitaker May Make Lightweight Farewell : Boxing: He is expected to move up to junior-welterweight division after defending titles against Paez tonight.

He is a lightweight, but his stature in professional boxing is every bit as formidable as that of his 1984 Olympic teammate, Evander Holyfield, the heavyweight champion.

In what might be his farewell to the lightweight division, undisputed champion Pernell Whitaker will fight Jorge Paez tonight at the Reno/Sparks Convention Center.

Tonight’s bout will be Whitaker’s eighth defense of the lightweight championship. Simply being an undisputed champion--recognized by all of the sport’s major governing bodies--is a remarkable achievement. There are only two: Whitaker and Holyfield.

In a way, not much has changed for Whitaker since the summer of 1984, when he and another U.S. teammate, Mark Breland, were considered the two best amateur boxers in the world. Both seemed destined for long, lucrative pro careers.

Whitaker did it. Breland didn’t; he ended his disappointing pro career recently by retiring.

Today, 2 1/2 years after he won his first piece of the lightweight crown, Whitaker is on everyone’s top-10 list, and several boxing periodicals rank him No. 1 in their pound-for-pound rankings, slightly ahead of Julio Cesar Chavez.

Chavez is a major reason Whitaker wants to move up to the junior-welterweight (140-pound) division. He is eager to challenge Chavez or Hector Camacho. Another reason is that, at 27, Whitaker is having difficulty making the 135-pound lightweight limit.

In the spring of 1984, when Breland seemed to be knocking everyone out with right-handed punches, Whitaker was defeating Cubans with impressive ease. At the 1984 USA-Cuba dual meet in Reno, Whitaker, then 20, retired Cuba’s famed double gold medalist, Angel Herrera, then 31, with a lopsided decision.

Whitaker is managed and trained by Main Events, the same firm that handles Holyfield. Dan Duva, Main Events president, said tonight’s fight might be Whitaker’s last as a lightweight.

“Pernell loves being the undisputed lightweight champion, but for his last two fights he’s had a hard time making 135,” Duva said.

“He’s not going to be 100% for Paez, and that concerns me. Don’t ask me if he’s going to be 90% or 80%, because I don’t know. But he’s not going to be 100%.”

Paez also struggles to make weight. He was once a clown and an acrobat in his family’s Mexicali circus. He brings showmanship to the bout, but little punching power.

Paez is an aggressive, short-armed puncher who relies on pressure, not power. He won a portion of the featherweight championship in 1989 and defended it seven times before relinquishing it to move up in weight. He throws punches from every angle, but they don’t seem to hurt much.

Since 1986, Paez (39-3-4) has lost only to Sacramento’s Tony Lopez in an unsuccessful bid to win Lopez’s junior-lightweight title.

Whitaker (26-1) has lost only a disputed 1988 decision to Jose Luis Ramirez in Paris. He later scored a unanimous decision over Ramirez in Whitaker’s hometown, Norfolk, Va.

Whitaker is an unorthodox left-hander whose quick footwork brings to mind the grace of Billy Conn and Gene Tunney. Whitaker’s left-handed punch, like Chavez’s left hook, is one of boxing’s best.

Whitaker was 16-1 when he won his first share of the lightweight crown with a 1989 decision over Greg Haugen. And when Whitaker beat Ramirez in a rematch and then defeated Juan Nazario in 1990, he had the International Boxing Federation, World Boxing Council and World Boxing Assn. championships.

He knocked out Nazario in one round but has had to go the distance in five of his last six fights. Whitaker will be paid $1 million tonight, Paez $250,000.

The companion main event on HBO was to have been a junior-welterweight title bout between champion Edwin Rosario and Akinobu Hiranaka, but Rosario had to cancel the fight because of a training injury.