William Torelle Joppy (born September 11, 1970) is an American former

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

who competed from 1993 to 2011, and held the WBA

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have be ...

title three times between 1996 and 2003.

Professional career

Joppy won his first of three WBA middleweight titles in June 1996 by stopping defender

Shinji Takehara is a Japanese former professional boxer who has competed from 1989 to 1996. He was the first Japanese boxer to capture a middleweight title having held the WBA title from 1995 to 1996. Takehara turned pro in 1989 and had a relatively short pr ...

in Japan with a flurry of punches in the ninth round. He then would make a couple defenses of his crown. However, on August 23, 1997, Joppy lost a decision to Julio César Green. Joppy's very next fight, on January 31 of the next year, saw him avenge that loss with a decision win by a wide margin. This fight won Joppy the WBA title for the second time. After recovering from a neck injury, Joppy stopped Green on cuts in the seventh round in a rubber match (Green had been the interim champion while Joppy recovered), and made a few more defenses, including a 3rd-round TKO of a 47-year-old

Roberto Durán Roberto Durán Samaniego (born June 16, 1951) is a Panamanian former professional boxer who competed from 1968 to 2001. He held world championships in four weight classes: lightweight, welterweight, light middleweight and middleweight, as wel ...

Unsuccessful unification against Trinidad

Joppy lost the title a second time, however, on May 12, 2001, to

Félix Trinidad Félix Juan Trinidad García (born January 10, 1973), popularly known as "Tito" Trinidad, is a Puerto Rican former professional boxer who competed from 1990 to 2008. He held multiple world championships in three weight classes and is said to b ...

in the middleweight unification tournament. Joppy was knocked down in rounds one and four before finally being stopped in the fifth. After the WBA title was vacated due to

Bernard Hopkins Bernard Hopkins Jr. (born January 15, 1965) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2016. He is one of the most successful boxers of the past three decades, having held multiple world championships in two weight class ...

beating Trinidad, Joppy had the chance to fight for it again. He claimed the title from British contender

Howard Eastman Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probabl ...

in a close majority decision where he was knocked down by Eastman in the final few seconds. On December 14, 2003, Joppy lost his title to

, losing by a wide points margin on all three judges' cards. A year later, Joppy lost another lopsided unanimous decision against

Jermain Taylor Jermain Taylor (born August 11, 1978) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2014. He remains the most recent undisputed middleweight champion, having won the WBA (Undisputed), WBC, IBF, WBO, ''Ring'' magazine, and ...

. Joppy returned as a Super Middleweight on July 29, 2005 knocking out journeyman Rashaan Blackburn in the third round. Joppy said then that he hoped to have one final title run as a Super Middleweight before retirement. After a string of five victories against lesser opponents, Joppy obtained a title fight against the new IBF champion

Lucian Bute Lucian Bute (born February 28, 1980) is a Romanian-Canadian former professional boxer who competed from 2003 to 2017. He held the International Boxing Federation, IBF super-middleweight title from 2007 to 2012, successfully making nine consecutiv ...

on February 29, 2008. Bute won by way of technical knockout in round 10 and Joppy retired after the bout, only to come back two years later.

Retirement

Following a close decision loss to Sebastien Demers in March 2010 Joppy announced his retirement from boxing, although it was not the first time that Joppy has announced that he is leaving the sport.http://www.fightnews.com/?p=39120#more-39120 He returned to the ring later that year, fighting

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

native Cory Cummings to a draw, and subsequently defeated Cummings by unanimous decision in a 2011 rematch.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Joppy, William 1970 births Living people Middleweight boxers Boxers from Maryland American male boxers Light-heavyweight boxers World Boxing Association champions World middleweight boxing champions