Purchasing a quality puppy

[Jstew]

I have done the research on boxers and have decided that I would like to become a proud owner. I am wanting a brindle male and would like it to be a larger breed of boxer. I have located a breeder and they have beautiful boxers. They recently had a litter that came from a brindle male who is very large and a female that weighed around 70 pounds before she was pregnant. My question is this: The only brindle male that they have was the last puppy to be born. He is definitely smaller than the other puppies in the litter, even the females. He is about 13 inches in length at about 3 weeks, while the largest puppy a fawn male is nearly 15 inches! The closest puppy is still about a half inch longer than this brindle male. The breeder said that he was smaller because he was wormy when he was born and he should catch up with the rest of the litter. I absolutely love everything else about this pup. I am just concerned and am needing advice on whether I should pursue purchasing this puppy or should I continue to look elsewhere.
Thanks for you help
JS
P.S. If a majority of people decide that I should keep looking, can anyone recommend a quality breeder in the MO or OK region.

[JulieM]

Well, there is no "larger breed" of Boxer; there is one breed and the proper weight is 60-75 lbs. for a male and 50-65 lbs. for a female.

Quite often the smallest puppies end up being the largest adults, but there are no guarantees and a puppy that did not get a good start (one that was "wormy") may be at a disadvantage. There are several questions to ask breeders here: www.boxerworld.com/rescue/questions/ as well as links to other sites with questions to ask.

I would be very careful in MO as it is a large puppymill area.

A listing of Boxerworld supported breeders is here, as well as the various health tests that should be done: www.boxerworld.com/breeders