LEE Purdy’s trainer Tony Sims has revealed how he made the massive call to pull the Colchester boxer out of his showdown with world champion Devon Alexander in America with a transatlantic telephone call.

Purdy's stable-mate, middleweight title-hopeful Darren Barker was stand-in corner man on the night and he told the referee at the end of round seven that the fight should be stopped.

But Purdy’s long-time trainer and manager Sims, who was unable to travel to Atlantic City because of a visa problem, has revealed how it was him who made the call to pull his man out of the fight.

"I was never going to let it go 12 rounds,” said Sims, who trains both Purdy and Barker at his gym in Hainault.

“I made that call, I was on the phone to the corner and got my instructions through via Darren. It was nothing to do with Darren, he just did what I said.

“I was never going to let Lee go 12 rounds on that short notice because to drop that much weight in four weeks is not healthy, and the more rounds you do the worse it gets.

“Lee would have stayed in there until the end but I did not want him to start dehydrating and getting tired and getting hurt. That’s not what boxing is about.

“The way we looked at the fight was that if Lee did not knock him out in the first few rounds then he would not go the distance.

“But he gave a great account of himself against a two-weight world champion, who really did not hurt him.

“Now everyone knows who Lee is and the Americans love him because of his come forward style.

“I spoke to him yesterday and he has now gone to Vegas for a holiday with some money in the bank and he’s fine.

“He was well paid for the fight and, although his pride was a little but hurt, he’s 25 and he still has a big career in front of him.”

Former Thomas Lord Audley School pupil Purdy missed the weight for the fight by 8oz, making it a non-title bout against IBF world champion Alexander.

That led some pundits to question whether he would better moving up from welterweight, but Sims feels his man is competing in the correct division.

He said: “Lee has just started with a sports science dietician called Mike Jones, who did an unbelievable job to get his weight to what it was for this fight.

“If Lee gets 12 weeks instead of four to work with this dietician then I don’t think there will be any problem in him making welterweight.

“Obviously if he does that and the weight still does not come off then we would move him up. But we won’t know that until he prepares properly like that.”

Sims said Purdy will return to the country to be ringside to see fellow Matchroom-promoted fighter Carl Froch take on Mikkel Kessler in what has been billed of the fight of the year at London’s O2 Arena on Saturday.

He said the plan is for Purdy to return to the ring in London in September in either a 10 or 12-round contest.