Purdy was saved. Devon Alexander is an absolute murderous puncher, just listen to the noise he makes when he punches.
Completely different situations mate. Shannon and Lebedev were taking flush punches all night long and one had a bad injury. It's important to distinguish what is a really risky situation for your fighter. Otherwise we're always pulling guys out that don't look they have any chance of winning, there would be retirements all over the place, that isn't an especially good thing either. There are a lot of fights where one guy doesn't really have more than 1% chance of winning half way through, but we don't always retire them and I think thats right depending on the context. Purdy's defence was holding up as the fight progressed, or at least, Devon had lost his snap and was splitting it less. There was no real spite in what Devon was doing, going the distance was a worthwhile pursuit in this one for me, there wasn't a great deal of risk at the time it was stopped. Sure if he goes out and starts getting hit clean then you make the call, but at the time it seemed harsh. Sure Purdy had a bloodied nose and was getting slapped with right hooks around his ear and taking the odd body shot but you can't look at that and say its equal to Lebedev being half blind and getting hit with right hands right on the damage, or Shannon without the energy to hold his arms up walking into right hands down the pipe.
He did the right thing. It was just going to be round after round of the same. The lad had a go but he was getting a one sided beating. Can't understand anyone saying barker was wrong.
**** Barker, honestly. I'm all for not letting a guy receive more punishment than he needs to, but that was ****ing stupid. If Barker was in the same position, he would NEVER let himself get stopped there. He's talking about how he saw the 24 hours leading up to the fight. Well that didn't exactly friggin' translate in to the fight, did it!? I didn't see Purdy getting beat down, I saw a man taking a lot on the gloves and still being fully aware of himself. It was stupid and if I was in that position, I would have thrown my trainer out the damn ring. Devon was hardly smashing him to bits and had hurt his damn left hand. You just can't control a guys career like that and it wasn't a matter of Purdy being running on pure heart at that stage because he was still fighting, but just not enough. Stupid stupid decision and I really dislike Barker because of it.
Agree with all but the dislike barker bit I was a angry at the Russians the night before where a mans health was involved But this was a 12 round fight against a one handed man,purdy hadn't been wobbled once so he had the right to think he would be there fighting to the end
I dunno if Barker noticed Devon had 1 hand, but that in itself is a reason to take the fight down the stretch. I don't see that his chances are any less at the point he was stopped than when he went into the fight. He'd lost his early "chance" at KO (whatever that chance was) but its tough fighting 1 handed when you tire, and Alexander had thrown a lot and was already showing signs of arm punching. Yeah he was still looking good because of the speed but lets see what happens in the last 3? If he didn't notice thats really poor, because thats part of your job in the corner, to be fully aware of everything that is going on in the fight.
i thought it was early & Purdy was not in trouble & wasnt taking any serious punishment. It would have been more of the same though to be fair & Purdy didnt throw 1 hard punch all night despite a reputation of being a puncher. I wouldnt have minded if he was throwing bombs & missing but he was rolling forward like a world war 1 tank, coming forward with no attack whatsoever. I would have kept Purdy in there & told him to just roll the dice & hope to hit the jackpot.
I can see it both ways. Purdy is a fighter and man with pride and courage and so of course wanted to go on, that's very commendable and he probably could have gone the full 12 as well. On the other hand, his face was getting badly marked up, his body was ****ed from the weight draining and there was no chance whatsoever of him winning despite what Sky's commentators were trying to have you believe. He was pretty much just a punch bag. I think Barker's inexperience in the corner showed. A proper trainer like Terry Sims would have got through to Purdy and made him understand how he was seeing the fight from the sidelines. I think Barker saw all the shots Alexander was landing and thought it was worse than it probably was. No way near the level of beat down Broner gave Rees if you ask me, just stinging shots. Purdy will live to fight another day but likely won't have another fight of significance at title level. Had he gone the full 12 then perhaps he'd have gotten himself the keys to a few more doors.
I wonder what Hearn has to say considering his man had to be pulled out with a guy who he says can't punch and was using one hand.
Tend to agree with this even if it is worded strongly against Barker. Purdy didn't need pulling out, just a big kick up the arse. Was hardly doing anything the whole fight which in turn magnified Alexander's volume of punches to every watching.
People saying its stupid because Purdy wasn't badly hurt. That's exactly the point if he got badly hurt it would of been too late at that point to pull him out. He was warned then carried on taking shots. He was. Pulled BEFORE he could take any serious damage. Corner did a great job
