By Aaron Klein: Undefeated light welterweight prospect Lee Purdy (7-0, 3 KOs) made short work of Jamie Spence (4-2, 2 KOs), on Friday night, winning by a 1st round TKO of a six round scheduled bout at the York Hall, in Bethnal Green, London. Purdy, a fighter with very heavy hands, was coming into this fight having knocked out his last opponent Craig Dyer in 107 seconds of the 1st round, showing Purdy’s enormous power. Spence, unfortunately for him, didn’t last much longer as Purdy immediately tore into him as soon as the fight started.
With both fighters trading tremendous shots, Purdy suddenly landed a big right hand that dropped Spence who fell awkwardly face first on the canvas. He got up and received a standing eight count but it seemed almost certain that he wouldn’t be able to make it out of the round in one piece. As soon as the fight resumed, Purdy was all over Spence, landing an unanswered storm of punches ending with a big right hand that staggered Spence causing the referee Marcus McDonnell to step in and halt the fight with Spence still on his feet, looking badly hurt and unable to walk without staggering.
Purdy, considered one of England’s best young prospects, showed good head movement in the early going of the fight. Spence, a good puncher in his own right, wasn’t able to land cleanly with many of his power shots due to the excellent head movement by Purdy. In the opening seconds of the fight, Purdy, 20, landed several powerful right hands that got the attention of Spence who immediately tries to fire back with his own. However, as Spence came forward, Purdy began landing huge left hooks, catching him cleanly again and again.
Spence continued coming forward, and taking big shots each time and looking much like a punching bag. Purdy then began to back up, throwing both left hooks and straight right hands without losing any power in the process. I knew then that Spence wouldn’t have a chance in this fight given Purdy’s power and boxing skills. He simply was on another level than Spence. Both fighters took turns trading shots, with Spence getting the worst of it.
After landing a couple of right hands, Spence was shockingly dropped by a straight right hand, a punch that he never saw coming from Purdy. That in a sense was the end for Spence, for he hit the canvas head first without bracing his fall with his hands in any way. I figured he wouldn’t last long if he could get up from the knockdown. Sure enough, once the fight resumed, Purdy stormed after Spence and hit him with a seemingly unending flurry of shots, counting some 14 head shots ending with a right hand to the head that staggered Spence.
Some referees would have allowed the fight to continue but Spence was badly hurt, and even Purdy seemed reluctant to finish him off as he stood and stared at Spence, both admiring his work and looking as if he didn’t want to hit Spence in his defenseless state. As such, referee Marcus McDonnell did the wise thing and stopped the fight rather than letting Purdy put him down to the canvas with a finishing shot.
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