Just heard from the coast that Adolph Pruitt passed away yesterday morning. Man, you guys have to check out his record sometime. The dude fought everybody. So unlucky not to win a 140 lb. title. Was an awesome welter too.
Pruitt fought a guy name Percy Pugh back in '72 and knocked him out cold with a single right. He was on a roll in the early 70's when he suddenly upset...by ko by Raul Soriano...in a really exciting bout...I didn't see that one coming. He avenged that loss by ko'ing Raul in the rematch. Eventually, he got his chance for the welterweight title...and that was the good news....the bad news was that it was against Jose Mantequilla Napoles...who had already stopped him in 3 rounds 2 years earlier. The rematch was even worse as Napoles was damned near at his welterweight peak and treated poor Adolph terribly in battering him to another stoppage in 3. Pruitt was a quality, exciting, worthy title challenger, and I say R.I.P. !!
Percy Pugh was a journeyman fighter from New Orleans. Fought some of the better welters around in the late 60's/early 70's. Had no power punch. 47 30 0 with only 5 ko's. Fought Billy Backus 4 times, winning 2 of the fights.
I remember Pugh. You summed him up right about having no power. But if you didn't bring your A game you were going to get outslicked.
