Joshua vs Pulev at a glance
We all know that the fight that boxing fans — well, British boxing fans at least — want is Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury. The promoters know it, the boxers know it, in fact, everyone knows it. It’ll come at some stage next year, but before then, there are certain contractual obligations that both fighters have to fulfill. Fury has to figure out a path towards Joshua that includes navigating a disputed third fight against Deontay Wilder.
Anthony Joshua’s move is a lot clearer. He’s going to fight Kubrat Pulev on December 12 at Wembley Stadium. In this blog, we’re going to run through some of the key details to know ahead of the fight, including who’s favourite to win and who exactly Kubrat Pulev is.
Who’s Favourite?
The majority of pundits will be backing Joshua to win this fight, but a few dissenting voices think that Pulev might just pull off an upset in London. British boxing legend Chris Eubank and former boxing promoter Bob Arum both think that Joshua is vulnerable to Pulev’s fighting style. So it’s far from a foregone conclusion, and we’ll likely see that more than a few armchair fans will use free bet deals to back Pulev as an outside contender to pick up the IBF, WBA, and WBO heavyweight titles.
We have to remember Joshua has shown that he’s not invincible. That defeat to Andy Ruiz Jr. back in June 2019 raised serious questions about the credibility of Joshua’s status as a top-quality fighter. It could have been a sink or swim moment. Thankfully for Joshua and his fans, he seems to be back on the right track. The future is again in his hands. Still, the memory of that defeat will live on. We all love boxing because there are no easy fights in the sport; anyone can beat anyone, providing they have the tenacity to do so, and perhaps a pinch of luck.
Joshua took his eye off the ball last year. He knows it; in fact, he’s candid about the lows that it induced and how he had to battle back. It’s looking like that defeat will have been a blessing in disguise.
Who is Kubrat Pulev?
Casual viewers of boxing can sometimes get a little annoyed at the “small names” that Joshua fights. But the truth is that Joshua rarely fights anyone that he’s just going to knockdown. That’s not in his interests; if he’s going to box the likes of Tyson Fury, then he has to be competing against people who will give him a challenge. And that’s just what Kubrat Pulev will do.
The bare facts of the man are that he’s 39 and has been a professional boxer for eleven years, during which he’s fought 29 times, winning 28 and losing one. That’s a pretty impressive record by anyone’s standards and becomes even more so when you learn that his one defeat came at the hands of Wladimir Klitschko. That was back in 2014 when Klitschko knocked him out in the fifth round. Around 50% of his victories have come via knockout.
This is only his second major fight, and a person like Pulev is not going to let that slip through his hands. He was supposed to fight Joshua back in 2017, but had to pull out twelve days before the fight due to an injury. He’ll know that this is probably his last chance of glory. It’s for this reason, along with his undoubted quality, that we can expect big things at Wembley Stadium on December 12. To be sure, Joshua will have to bring his A-game if he’s going to retain his titles.