Hamburg, June 19th, 2014. IBF- and IBO-heavyweight champion as well as WBO- and WBA-superchampion Wladimir Klitschko will defend his titles on September 6th against the Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev. The fight against the official IBF mandatory will be taking place at the o2 World Hamburg, Germany.
Kubrat „The Cobra“ Pulev from Sofia is 33 years old and 1,94m tall. The current No 1 of the IBF ranking has an outstanding record: 20 wins, 11 by KOs and no losses. From 2011 on, Pulev was IBF International Champion and became European Heavyweight Champion in 2012/2013.
Joey Abell filled in for injured Sherman Williams on a week’s notice and faced undefeated Pulev in Neubrandenburg, Germany on Dec. 14. The IBF intercontinental title and Pulev’s hard-gained number 1 IBF ranking were at stake.
Joey “Minnesota Ice” Abell 29(KO 28)-6(KO 4)-0 couldn’t turn it down, even if it is short notice. Joey’s break came when veteran Sherman Williams suffered an injury in training camp. Williams had to back out of his December 14th bout with Kubrat “The Cobra” Pulev 18 (KO 9)-0-0. The winner has a shot to fight Wladimir Klitschko. Somebody wake Joey, this is a terrific chance.
If the road to the top in any sport is beset with challenges and hard physical graft, then boxing must rank amongst the toughest. But despite the obstacles to greatness, boxing continues to make people rich and famous, just as surely as it leaves most fighters with questionable futures. In general terms, boxing is the oldest and most maligned sport in the world today, but that doesn’t stop the support, and it certainly doesn’t stop the money. Most eyes used to be on the Heavyweights – the blue ribbon event – but a continued dominance since the Klitschko brothers gained the titles in…erm… 1694, has brought attention to the other weights, culminating in the Mayweather deal; which still beggars belief in most third world countries and gives promoters across the USA cold sweats on dark nights. Floyd is a boxing freak though, a supreme talent, and a fighter like him only comes along once every 25 years. We owe it to ourselves to make the best of the time he’s giving us in the ring. But, like the saying goes “Make hay while the sun shines” and that sun is dipping low on Floyd no matter how hard we want to tell ourselves it’s not true. 
Wladimir Klitschko (61-3, 51 KOs) has been widely criticized in these latter stages of his career for cherry picking his opponents. Going into his fight with Alexander Povetkin many people thought it would be a good match up, but as I feared, even though Povetkin was tougher than most, he completely failed to give Klitschko a good fight. A fighter’s challenge to a title is validated by who they have fought. This is what makes a man deserve a shot to take down Klitschko. 
Juergen Braehmer took another step towards another crack at a world title. On Saturday, the 34-year-old beat Stefano Abatangelo by unanimous decision (119:108, 119:108 and 115:111) in front of a sold-out home crowd at the Sport- und Kongresshalle Schwerin, Germany. “It was difficult to showcase my skills against Abatangelo as he has an awkward style,” said the light heavyweight contender who defended his European as well as his WBO International Title. “Still it was good for me to get some more rounds under my belt which will definitely help me in my next fight.” Braehmer is the mandatory to WBO Champion Sergey Kovalev.
Photo: Wende – Tonight‘s IBF eliminator in Schwerrin, Germany was supposed to be Kubrat Pulev‘s bigest test so far. He had earned his high ranking but had to wait for almost a full year for this opportunity because he was being avoided for various reasons. His opponent Tony Thompson was an avoided boxer as well and he advanced to this eliminator by beating twice Britain’s David Price. The Cobra proved to be a completely different kind of fighter and defeated the Tiger via a wide margin UD. I am tempted to say that if you read my „Analyses and forecast“ for the fight, perhaps you did not need to watch it, it is all there. Here is a quick walk through Pulev‘s winning effort: