By Scott Gilfoid: #4 IBF, Lee Purdy (20-3-1, 13 KO’s) will be replacing injured #1 WBO Kell Brook as the opponent for IBF welterweight champion Devon Alexander (24-1, 13 KO’s) on May 18th in a fight that will be televised on Showtime at the Boardwalk Hall, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA.
Brook injured his foot and had to pull out of the fight with Alexander. Sadly, this was Brook’s second time that he pulled out of a fight with Alexander due to an injury. Thankfully, the International Boxing Federation finally let Alexander fight and move ahead with his career because the man could end up getting old waiting for Brook to stay in one piece long enough to make it in the ring.
Purdy has a high ranking by the IBF but not by any of the other sanctioning bodies. In watching him fight it’s pretty easy to understand why the other sanctioning bodies don’t have him ranked high.
Purdy doesn’t look impressive and he looks more like a domestic level fighter than a world ranked contender. It’s unclear why the IBF has him ranked so high because he’s never faced a world class opponent before and he’s lost to the two best opponents he’s faced in Colin Lynes and Denton Vassell.
Of Purdy’s wins, these are the only recognizable fighters he’s beaten: Adnan Amar, Cosme Rivera and Craig Watson. Rivera is a 36-year-old journeyman and he was giving the huge looking Purdy all kinds of problems at the time the fight was stopped in the 9th round last March due to a cut over the right eye of Rivera.
Purdy was staggered in the 8th round and was starting to gas out big time. It was a really lucky break for Purdy that the fight was stopped when it was because he was starting to take punishment.
Alexander had a good year in 2012, beating Marcos Maidana and former IBF welterweight champion Randall Bailey. Alexander was simply too good for both of these guys.
I see Alexander easily beating Purdy by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision. If Purdy tries to make a fight of it then he’ll get knocked out quickly. This should be one of Alexander’s easiest fights of his career.I just wish that a better contender could be picked out for Alexander to fight because this is going to be a sick mismatch.The good thing is that the IBF will get their rankings straightened out after this fight with Purdy getting pushed down in the rankings after he loses badly.
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