Freddie Pendleton (born January 5, 1963) is an American former professional
boxer who competed from 1981 to 2001.
Pendleton won his first title in October 1985 knocking out Darryl Martin (9-2) in the 6th round earning him the Pennsylvania State light welterweight title.
In March 1986, "Fearless", who was (14-13) at the time, took on
Roger Mayweather
Roger Mayweather (April 24, 1961 – March 17, 2020) was an American boxing trainer and former professional boxer who competed from 1981 to 1999. He was a two-division world champion, having held the WBA and ''The Ring'' super featherweight ti ...
(23-3) at the
Sahara Hotel
Sahara Las Vegas is a hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. It is owned and operated by the Meruelo Group. The hotel has 1,616 rooms, and the casino contains . The Sahara anchors the northern end of the Las Vega ...
in
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...
. He knocked out Roger in the 6th round for a TKO win.
Four months later, Pendleton took on
Frankie Randall
Frankie Billy Randall (September 25, 1961 – December 23, 2020) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1983 to 2005. He was a three-time light welterweight world champion, having held the WBA and WBC titles between 1994 and 199 ...
(27-1) for the second time. Only this time was for the vacant USBA lightweight title. The fight went the distance and was a draw. Freddie later won the USBA lightweight title and defended it successfully in 1987 and 1988.
In 1990, Pendleton fought a world title against unified
WBC &
IBF
The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...
lightweight champion,
Pernell Whitaker
Pernell Whitaker Sr. (January 2, 1964 – July 14, 2019) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 2001, and subsequently worked as a boxing trainer. He was a four-weight world champion, having won titles at lightweight, ligh ...
(20-1). Although prior to the contest, few had placed much faith in Freddie's abilities to provide a competitive effort in the fight, due to his 24-16 record, Freddie did just that. The fight turned out to be a, "barn burner," far better than anyone had expected; It was a genuinely classy effort by Pendleton against one of best fighters in the world. While correctly deemed a unanimous decision win for Whitaker, most observers generally thought the fight was much, much closer than the scorecards reflected(Judges Jim Traylor and Stuart Winston scored it 116-112, with Phil Newman 117-113 all for
Pernell Whitaker
Pernell Whitaker Sr. (January 2, 1964 – July 14, 2019) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 2001, and subsequently worked as a boxing trainer. He was a four-weight world champion, having won titles at lightweight, ligh ...
).
In 1993, he captured the Vacant IBF lightweight title with a decision win over Tracy Spann. He defended the belt once before losing it to
Rafael Ruelas in 1994. Although he continued to fight until 2001, Pendleton never regained a major belt, losing to IBF welterweight title holder
Félix Trinidad
Félix Juan Trinidad García (born January 10, 1973), popularly known as "Tito" Trinidad, is a Puerto Rican former professional boxer who competed from 1990 to 2008. He held multiple world championships in three weight classes and is said to b ...
in 1996, IBF light welterweight title holder
Vince Phillips
Vincent Edwards "Vince" Phillips (born July 23, 1963) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1989 to 2007. He held the IBF junior welterweight title from 1997 to 1999, notably scoring an upset victory against then-undefeated ...
in 1997, and WBA welterweight title holder
James Page in 1999.
He retired in 2001 after being KO'd by
Ricky Hatton
Richard John Hatton (born 6 October 1978) is a British former professional boxer who competed between 1997 and 2012, and has since worked as a boxing promoter and trainer. During his boxing career he held multiple world championships at lig ...
.
On June 26, 2011, Freddie Pendleton was inducted into the Florida Boxing Hall of Fame.
Professional boxing record
See also
*
List of IBF world champions
This is a list of IBF world champions, showing every world champion certificated by the International Boxing Federation (IBF). The IBF is one of the four major governing bodies in professional boxing, and has certified world champions in 17 diffe ...
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pendleton, Freddie
1963 births
International Boxing Federation champions
Lightweight boxers
Living people
Boxers from Philadelphia
American male boxers