Williams defeats Purlette
Stabroek News
June 12, 2003
Jeremy Williams dropped Andre Purlette three times en route to a ten round unanimous decision win at the Memorial Coliseum at Corpus Christi, Texas. Williams dropped Purlette with a hard jab in round two, then put him on the deck again with another flurry. The fight might have ended there, however the ring doctor surprisingly halted the fight to examine Purlette, giving him time to recover.
Williams was credited with a knockdown in round three that looked more like a slip. After that, Purlette seemed to get his second win and took control over the middle rounds. Williams again started landing hard blows in round seven and in round eight had Purlette in big trouble, but thereferee broke the fighters before Williams could finish the job.
Scores were 97-90, 95-91 and 97-90 for Williams, who improves to 40-4-1, 35 KO. Purlette suffered his second pro loss and fell to 35-2, 32 KOs. “I could’ve fought a better fight,” said Williams, who improved to 40-4-1 and is looking at fights down the road against either contenders Chris Byrd or John Ruiz. “I always have to check myself. But I won every round. I can’t really complain about that.”
Williams did lose one round when he was penalized for grabbing Purlette behind the head. Yet he was landing the majority of the hard blows, popping Purlette with a vicious left hook that resulted in a standing eight-count in the second round.
In the eighth and comfortably ahead, Williams landed two hard rights and followed with a right-left combination that sent Purlette’s mouthpiece sailing across the ring.
“I wanted to stay outside boxing, moving him around,” said Purlette, who lost for only the second time in 37 fights. “He was pretty strong, but he was holding a lot behind the head. I planned on stepping it up in the later rounds. It didn’t go my way tonight.” (FIGHTNEWS.com)
