No amateur background, made his pro debut at 22 Suffered a 1st round KO defeat against journeyman Cleveland Woods in his 2nd fight but received 0 KD’s over a 13 year and 38 fight period post-Kirk Johnson, extending to his retirement at 40 8-8 (6 wins by stoppage) in his first 16 fights but 19-5-1 in his next 25 (18 wins by stoppage, all 5 losses on points to name heavyweights) 24-13-1 Puritty (31 years old, billed as 6’3, a well-conditioned 250 lbs, 170 rounds contested, completed 10+ rounds six times, five periods with 2/3 losses in a row, at 8-8 drew with 41-2 Morrison over 10 rounds having never been past 6 previously, scoring KD’s in rounds 6 and 10 and completed 12 rounds against 32-1 Sanders in South Africa) upset 24-0, 96% stoppage ratio Wlad (22 years old, 225 lbs, 134-6 amateur record, Olympic SHW gold medallist at 20, 66 pro rounds contested, completed 8 rounds once) by TKO11 (Wlad was up 90-81 after 9 rounds) on eight days notice in Wlad’s first and only pro fight in Ukraine
Having watched a fair bit of Puritty over the years, I think that if he'd had some amateur background and a good coach to start him through his career, he'd have quite probably have been one of the upper echelon fighters of his era. His problem always was that he was kinda flatfooted and not very skilled or fast. On the plus side he was an absolute tank, immensely strong and very hard hitting - if he could catch you. Better footwork and better timing would have definitely amplified his natural ruggedness and would have enabled him to make his advantages stick. Classic example of a guy thrown to the wolves early and left to figure things out while trying not to drown.
He also stopped Jorge Luis Gonzalss and Joe Hipp within seven months of each other. Gonzales had only lost to Witherspoon and Bowe at that point.
Punch resistance matters. I respect iron-jawed warriors because they are the ones who belong in our beloved sport and who should be representing it not these defective genes below average punch resistance wusses and glass-jawed freaks. Ross Puritty was an iron-jawed warrior and fighters like him are the ones who should be the ambassadors for our sport. Imagine a fire service full of firemen who are terrified of fire and heights?
Ross Puritty and Marion Wilson are pretty much the standard bearers of rugged tough 90s-00s journeyman. I leave Dominick Guinn out because he was actually at one point a prospect and fringe contender. Puritty and Wilson were just tough nights meant to gauge where someone on the way up was
True, Marion Wilson seemed to be a human anvil. Fought a "who's who" of contenders. Never stopped. Got robbed vs Mercer.
I've read they sent Puritty a contract to rematch Wlad, I believe inside 15 months but Puritty turned it down and later fought Vitali. If true, I guess Puritty wasn't happy with the money offered to rematch Wlad and maybe he was happy to fight Vitali because he wouldn't take as much brain damage or because he wanted the chance to beat both Klitschko brothers. I don't doubt that they could have offered Puritty more to fight Wlad again but maybe K2 felt: "Wlad's avenged Vitali's loss to Byrd, so now Vitali should avenge Wlad's loss to Puritty". Maybe they also felt that Vitali was more nailed-on to beat Puritty, given Vitali's chin, backfoot game and engine.
If Wlad had paced himself instead of trying to throw the kitchen sink at Puritty trying to KO him, he would have won easily on points. Maybe they thought that the outcome was obvious. It goes to show what a tough guy Ross really was. To suck up everything Wlad could throw for 11 rounds and still have enough left in the tank to win at the end. I think even you will admit that Wlad was a hellish puncher.
Wlad rematched two tin cans he beat easily early in his career, purely because he didn't get the KO/TKO first time. So not rematching Puritty is a significant omission in that context, even more so as Vitali took the Puritty "rematch" for Wlad. I think Brewster took more of a brain damage inducing beating than Puritty and he turned the same trick in 5 rounds. Teak-tough but limited guys.
