Kubrat Pulev wants to face Tyson Fury

By Will Arons - 05/16/2020 - Comments

Kubrat Pulev will be looking to beat Anthony Joshua to keep his record a perfect one against UK fighters when he face him later this year. Pulev (28-1, 14 KOs) wants to be the one that advances to the next level to fight who some boxing fans believe is the #1 heavyweight in the division in WBC champion Tyson Fury.

The 39-year-old Pulev has Fury’s cousin Hughie Fury in a one-sided 12 round decision in 2018 in Sofia, Russia. Also, Pulev has wins over these Brits:

  • Dereck Chisora
  • Michael Sprott
  • Matt Skelton

Adding Joshua and Fury’s name to that growing list would put the Bulgarian Pulev as the #1 heavyweight in the world, and would doors for him to face former WBC champion Deontay Wilder and some of the young upstarts like Daniel Dubois.

“We’ve got a little history going here, with Kubrat and British heavyweights. He’s knocked off quite a few,” said Pulev’s manager Ivalyo Gotsev to Sky Sports. “He shut up Derek Chisora because he had a big mouth. That was great, then beating another Fury [Hughie].

“Kubrat versus UK, I like that. A little name for himself there, so yeah, let’s deal with Joshua first. Let the best man win, and then we’ll look at options with Tyson Fury.”He is the man. It would be delightful to face the UK champions, one after another, wouldn’t it.”

Pulev did a number on Dereck Chisora, out-boxing in winning an easy 12 round decision in 2016. That was an exciting fight with the way that Pulev had Chisora pinned to the ropes through most of the contest. Chisora couldn’t reach the 6’4 1/2″ Pulev with his power shots, and he ended up getting picked apart for 12 rounds.

If Pulev fights the way that he did against Chisora, he’ll have a great chance of beating Joshua and Fury. Both of those fighters have chin problems, and Pulev has some pop in his right hand when he throws it with authority.

Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn is still looking at different countries to stage the Joshua-Pulev fight for September or December. He’d like to stage the fight in the UK if fans are allowed to attend. But if not, then Hearn will stage it one of these countries: Croatia, China, or the Middle East.

“We hope between September and December live gates will return to the UK. There is also a chance they won’t – if that’s the case, we will take the fight elsewhere. Joshua needs to fight in front of his own boxing fans because, as we saw in his loss to Andy Ruiz Jr. last June, he’s not the same fighter when he doesn’t have the support rooting him on.

“We have had a number of approaches from the Middle East, China, and Croatia to stage the fight,” said Hearn to Sky Sports.

Pulev’s only career defeat came at the hands of former IBF/WBA/WBO champion Wladimir Klitschko in 2014. Wladimir caught Pulev early with a left hook, and he never recovered from that shot and ended up getting stopped in the fifth round.  Since that sole defeat, Pulev has won his last eight fights and looked sensational.

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