William Joppy

William Joppy
Data
Birth Name	William Torelle Joppy
Weight class	medium weight
nationality	US-american
birthday	September 11, 1970
place of birth	Washington, DC
style	Standard boom
size	175 cm
Combat Statistics
Struggles	49
Victories	40
Knockout victories	30th
Defeats	7th
draw	2

William Torelle Joppy (born September 11, 1970 in Washington, DC ) is an American professional boxer and former three-time WBA middleweight champion.

Beginnings and first world title

Joppy won 48 of 52 amateur fights and was a participant in the 1992 national Olympic qualification, where he finished third in the middleweight division. He was only defeated in the semifinals against Chris Byrd .

In 1993 he began professional boxing and won his first 19 fights in a row, 15 of them by knockout. In his 20th fight on September 16, 1995, he boxed against the reigning NABF champion Rodney Toney in a draw, but won his next both fights prematurely.

Unbeaten in so far 22 professional fights, he finally got on June 24, 1996 the chance of the WBA world champion belt in the middleweight division of the also undefeated title holder Shinji Takehara from Japan. Joppy won the fight by technical knockout in round 9 and was thus the new WBA middleweight world champion.

On October 19, 1996 he defended the title by technical knockout in round 7 against Ray McElroy and on May 10, 1997 by unanimous points victory against Peter Venâncio .

Loss of title and another World Cup victory

On August 23, 1997 there was a title defense fight against Julio César Green from the Dominican Republic. Up to this point, Green had won 21 of his 23 professional fights, 15 of them by knockout, and two years earlier he had failed at the WBA world title in light middleweight. Joppy had to go down once in the 2nd round, his opponent twice in the 3rd round. Finally there was a point deduction from Joppy, who then lost the controversial fight on points and had to surrender his title to Green.

In the direct rematch on January 31, 1998, however, this time Joppy was able to win unanimously on points and recapture the title, which he defended on August 28, 1998 by technical knockout in round 3 against boxing legend Roberto Durán . It was only the fourth knockout defeat of Durán in 115 professional fights.

After a first round K. o.-victory against Napoleon Pitt in a non-title fight on July 24, 1999, he had to defend his title exactly two months later against Julio César Green. This time Joppy won by a technical knockout in round 7 after the fight was stopped because of a cut to Green's left eye. On March 3, 2000, he won again a non-title fight by unanimous victory over Fernando Zúñiga .

On May 20, 2000 he defended his title by technical knockout in the 1st round against the Mexican champion Rito Ruvalcaba . On September 16, 2000 he defended his title against the former European and WBC world champion Hacine Cherifi by unanimously winning points, with Cherifi also having to go down in rounds 8 and 9. Finally, Joppy defended his title on December 2, 2000 against the unbeaten Jonathan Reid with a technical knockout in round 4.

Another loss of title and third World Cup victory

On May 12, 2001, he rose to a title defense against the in 39 professional fights undefeated Puerto Rican Félix Trinidad in the ring. Trinidad was previously undefeated IBF and WBA world light middleweight champion and is now playing his first middleweight fight. Joppy showed enormous taker qualities in the fight, but was clearly defeated, was behind with all three judges and finally lost before the end of the 5th round due to technical knockout.

After the defeat of Trinidad against Bernard Hopkins , the WBA world title became vacant again, whereupon a fight for it between Joppy and the undefeated European champion Howard Eastman for November 17, 2001 was agreed. The fight was extremely controversial, towards the end of the fight Joppy showed poor physical condition and tried to compensate for this by clinging and dodging. A few seconds before the end of the fight, Joppy finally went down after two head hits, but won in the end by a split decision. On October 10, 2002, he defended his title by technical knockout in the 10th round over the Japanese Naotaka Hozumi .

Third title loss and change of weight classes

On December 13, 2003 he boxed against Bernard Hopkins for the world titles of the WBA, WBC and IBF, but lost on points and had suffered his third defeat in 38 professional fights. On December 4, 2004, he tried to secure the WBC Continental Americas title, but failed here by losing points to the undefeated Jermain Taylor .

This was followed by five knockout victories in a row against build-up opponents, before he boxed against Lucian Bute for the IBF world title in the super middleweight division on February 29, 2008 , but lost to a technical knockout in the 10th round. After another loss to Canadian Sébastien Demers and a draw with Maryland State Champion Cory Cummings , he tried to secure the WBA light heavyweight title on January 8, 2011. Joppy had no chance here and lost to Beibut Schumenow by knockout in round 6.

predecessor	Office	successor
Shinji Takehara	World Middleweight Boxing Champion ( WBA ) June 24, 1996 - August 23, 1997	Julio César Green

predecessor	Office	successor
Julio César Green	World Middleweight Boxing Champion ( WBA ) January 31, 1998 - May 12, 2001	Félix Trinidad

predecessor	Office	successor
Félix Trinidad	World Middleweight Boxing Champion ( WBA ) November 17, 2001 - December 13, 2003	Maselino Masoe

Web links

• William Joppy in the BoxRec database