Whitaker Gets Knocked Down but Wins Easily on Decision

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. —  Pernell Whitaker felt Julio Cesar Vasquez’s power in the fourth round, but for most of the fight he was too slick for the frustrated Argentine and won the World Boxing Assn. junior-middleweight championship on a one-sided decision Saturday night at the Convention Center.

Whitaker was knocked down by a left hand to the head in the fourth round, but he was in control in almost every other round as he became the fourth man to win at least pieces of world championships in four weight classes.

Whitaker used hard right jabs and accurate counterpunches to build up a big margin as the fight progressed.

Whitaker, whose World Boxing Council welterweight championship was not at stake, won 118-110, 118-107 and 116-110 on the judges’ cards as Vasquez fell to 50-2.

“I didn’t really think the punch was that hard,” said Whitaker, who improved to 35-1-1. “I was off balance. I had to get up and I got up. It wasn’t really a full-fledged knockdown.”

In another title fight, Ike Quartey of Ghana stopped Park Jung-Oh of South Korea in the fourth round in defense of the WBA welterweight title.