Ross Puritty (born December 18, 1966) is an American former professional boxer. A high-level journeyman and occasional heavyweight contender, Puritty is remembered for his fight with Wladimir Klitschko in 1998 in which he won the World Boxing Council (WBC) International heavyweight title, as well as for fighting former World Boxing Organization (WBO) world heavyweight champion, Tommy Morrison, to a draw. He also holds victories over former world title challengers Jorge Luis Gonzalez and Joe Hipp.

Football and professional boxing career Puritty played as a defensive lineman at UTEP for four seasons, starting on the 1988 team that won 10 games and went to the program's first bowl in 20 years. Over the course of his college career, he recorded 12 sacks, 18 pass breakups, and forced 8 fumbles. In the summer before his senior season, Puritty began training to become a professional boxer, adopting a peek-a-boo defensive stance with very high hands inspired by Floyd Patterson. He did not have an amateur career and initially struggled professionally, losing to Cleveland Woods by technical knockout after being knocked down twice in his second fight. Through his first six professional fights Puritty had compiled a mediocre record of 3–3, and after thirteen professional fights he fell to 6–7, with five of his defeats being on points.

A July 1994 match against Tommy Morrison, 41–2 at the time, was a turning point in Puritty's career, as he was outlanded and tired out near the end of the fight, but the bout was scored a draw after ten rounds on the strength of Puritty's two knockdowns of Morrison.BOXING, Northwest Florida Daily, July 30, 1994, p. 44. Puritty then went on a tear, winning his next ten consecutive bouts, all by knockout. Puritty had made his name and was now considered a top-tier opponent, earning matches against Hasim Rahman and Michael Grant (both of whom beat him on points), and against Jorge Luis Gonzalez and Joe Hipp, both of whom Puritty beat. Following the win against Hipp, Puritty was matched against world title contenders Corrie Sanders, Larry Donald, and Chris Byrd, losing all three fights on points. In 1998 on his way to a four fight winning streak, Puritty defeated Mark Hulstrom, then knocked out Wladimir Klitschko to win his first championship belt; it was Klitschko's first loss, and would be one of only five losses in his illustrious professional career.

After a draw with Frankie Swindell in January 2000, Puritty posted a record of 4–7–2, finishing with a career record of 31 wins and 20 losses, including 27 knockouts.

Puritty has been generally acknowledged as a fighter with an "iron chin" due to his ability to absorb heavy blows. After the two early stoppages - one TKO and one retirement - he was only stopped again once in his career, by a small cut to the eyebrow, by Vitali Klitschko: the other 17 of his defeats all went the distance.

Ross Puritty now resides in Wichita, Kansas with his wife and five children and works as a salesperson at Lexus of Wichita.

Professional boxing record

ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound(s),timeDateAgeLocationNotes54Win Carl GathrightMD8Oct 27, 200753Loss30–20–3 David CadieuxUD10Feb 10, 200752Loss30–19–3 Eddie ChambersUD10May 17, 200551Loss30–18–3 Alexander DimitrenkoUD8Nov 6, 200450Win30–17–3 Tommy ConnellyTKO4 (6), Jan 24, 200449Win29–17–3 John DixonKO2 (6), Aug 2, 200348Loss28–17–3 Attila LevinUD10Sep 8, 200247Loss28–16–3 Timo HoffmannUD12Jun 1, 200246Loss28–15–3 Vitali KlitschkoTKO11 (12), Dec 8, 200145Draw28–14–3 Sedreck FieldsPTS10Sep 21, 200144Win28–14–2 Ronnie SmithTKO4 (8), Nov 4, 200043Loss27–14–2 Eliecer CastilloUD10Aug 20, 200042Draw27–13–2 Frankie SwindellSD10Jan 14, 200041Win27–13–1 Louis MonacoPTS8Apr 22, 199940Win26–13–1 Lorenzo BoydTKO3 (6)Mar 23, 199939Win25–13–1 Wladimir KlitschkoTKO11 (12), Dec 5, 199838Win24–13–1 Mark HulstromKO2 (6)Nov 6, 199837Loss23–13–1 Chris ByrdUD10Jul 14, 199836Loss23–12–1 Larry DonaldUD10Apr 21, 199835Loss23–11–1 Corrie SandersUD12Nov 15, 199734Win23–10–1 Joe HippKO10 (10), Jun 15, 199733Win22–10–1 Calvin JonesTKO5 (?)Apr 17, 199732Win21–10–1 Jorge Luis GonzálezTKO7 (10), Dec 5, 199631Win20–10–1 Lionel JacksonKO1 (?)Sep 14, 199630Win19–10–1 Michael SealsTKO2 (?)Sep 3, 199629Loss18–10–1 Michael GrantUD10Jul 21, 199628Loss18–9–1 Hasim RahmanUD10Mar 26, 199627Win18–8–1 Ron BrooksTKO1 (8)Mar 2, 199626Win17–8–1 Stan JonesKO3 (8)Sep 23, 199525Win16–8–1 Andre SmileyTKO1 (8), Aug 26, 199524Win15–8–1 Cedric HarbaughDQ3 (?)Aug 22, 199523Win14–8–1 Andre SmileyTKO1 (?)Aug 18, 199522Win13–8–1 Tom WilliamsTKO1 (?)Jul 25, 199521Win12–8–1 Lamar JohnsonTKO3 (6)Jul 18, 199520Win11–8–1 Tyrone DixonKO1 (?)Jun 22, 199519Win10–8–1 Max KeyTKO2 (?)Apr 26, 199518Win9–8–1 Ron GulletteTKO4 (?)Feb 17, 199517Draw8–8–1 Tommy MorrisonSD10Jul 28, 199416Loss8–8 Kirk JohnsonUD6May 5, 199415Win8–7 Derrick RoddyUD6Mar 27, 199414Win7–7 Jason WilliamsUD4Mar 12, 199413Loss6–7 Brian NielsenUD6Mar 5, 199412Loss6–6 Will HintonUD6Aug 5, 199311Win6–5 Juan Ramon PerezKO4 (?)Apr 3, 199210Win5–5 Mike BardwellKO2 (?)Mar 25, 19929Loss4–5 King IpitanUD4Feb 25, 19928Loss4–4 Derek IsamanUD4Feb 24, 19917Win4–3 Jose AvilaTKO1 (?), Feb 3, 19916Loss3–3 John SargentUD6Jan 6, 19915Loss3–2 Aleksandr MiroshnichenkoRTD6 (8)Oct 29, 19904Win3–1 Troy TutwilerTKO3 (?)Jun 10, 19903Win2–1 Sergio HernandezTKO1 (4)Jan 15, 19902Loss1–1 Cleveland WoodsTKO1 (4), Jun 27, 19891Win1–0 Sergio AraujoKO1 (4)May 29, 1989

References

External links

Ross Puritty Interview