Purlette back in winners’ row ...
Ruiz captures title in a wild brawl
By Jesse Kelley
Guyana Chronicle
August 4, 2003
GUYANESE heavyweight Andre ‘Tombstone’ Purlette (36-2, 33 KOs) got back on the winning track with an impressive first round knockout of the usually durable Ron ‘El Tejanito’ Guerrero (16-8-3, 11 KOs).
The fight was the undercard of the title bout in which Edel ‘Cuate’ (Twin) Ruiz (22-10-3, 13 KOs) won a hard-fought decision over Ricardo ‘El Rayo’ (The Lightning) Medina (27-28-5, 17 KOs) for the vacant WBC Continental Americas super-bantamweight title on Saturday at the Northern Lights Casino in Walker, Minnesota.
Purlette, now trained by the legendary Emmanuel Steward, wobbled Guerrero several times in the opening stanza with a strong body attack and combinations upstairs. Towards the end of the round, Purlette pounded a left-right to the body that forced Guerrero to the ropes. With only a few seconds left, Purlette unloaded several vicious headshots to the non-responding Guerrero. Although Guerrero looked like it he would survive the onslaught, referee Bill Turner suddenly jumped in to stop the fight at 2:58 of the first round.
The stoppage seemed premature - particularly with only two seconds left in the round - and the crowd agreed by booing loudly.
Still, Purlette looked much improved since his one-sided decision loss to Jeremy Williams back in June, especially considering that he was only the second fighter to stop Guerrero inside the distance. Guerrero was TKO’ed in his ninth fight by Ray Austin in December 1999.
Rick Lazes, promoter of Purlette, gave full credit to the training of Steward for the dramatic turnaround in his fighter.
The title bout wasn’t a pretty or clean fight but the crowd enjoyed the action and determination of each fighter to win. Referee Mark Nelson had his hands full - issuing warnings for clenches, fouling and rough tactics but only one point was deducted from Medina in the sixth round for repeated low blows. Medina of Mazatlan, Mexico, was the aggressor but Ruiz of Los Mochis, Mexico, was elusive and landed the more solid shots.
Both fighters were cautious in the first couple of rounds but all of that changed when an accidental head-butt at the end of the second round opened up a cut over the right eye of Ruiz. Medina picked up the pace in the next round and Ruiz remained defensive although the cut was not a factor. Coincidentally, another head-butt in the last minute of the tenth round evened up the score by opening a cut over the left eye of Medina.
Both fighters traded equally during the infrequent exchanges. No one was hurt and no knockdowns occurred but the brawling continued throughout the fight. The judges saw the battle at 115-112 and 116-112 twice. The 25-year-old Ruiz briefly held the WBC Continental Americas bantamweight title in 1999 of which he made one successful title defence.
The fights were promoted by Anna Beth Goodman of Kingfish Boxing and Patrick Ortiz of Ringside Ticket. Both of these fights will be televised tape-delayed on Fox Sports World, Fox Sports En Espanol and Fox Sports Latin America. A standing room-only, rowdy crowd enjoyed the exciting inaugural boxing event at the Northern Lights Casino.
The Northern Lights Casino, which opened in May of 2001, is proudly owned and operated by the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe (Chippewa). (Fightnews)
