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Anthony Joshua retained his world heavyweight titles after knocking out Kubrat Pulev in the ninth round on Saturday night. Heavyweight boxing can be one of the most unpredictable and unforgiving arenas in the sport, as Joshua learned when he suffered a knockout loss to Andy Ruiz Jr 18 months ago, but he lived up to expectations at Wembley Arena when he struck out the 39-year-old Bulgarian. years. in submission.
The finale, when it came, saw Joshua shake Pulev’s head back with a series of top shots that dropped the challenger to the mat. Somehow, the old warhorse staggered to his feet, but a thunderous right hand ended the fight in dramatic fashion with Pulev stretched out on the mat.
In contrast, the first round was an exercise in extreme caution on the part of both fighters, with Pulev being even more cautious than Joshua, who at least threw a few punches. Joshua opened in the second and landed a flurry of punches before Pulev responded with a left hook. But the same pattern of feints and exaggerated respect was suddenly replaced in the third round by a straight right from Joshua that shook Pulev. The champion seriously wounded the Bulgarian and, although Pulev gave a strange cry of defiance, as he clung on, he was in desperate trouble. He was brought down by a brutal uppercut from Joshua and struggled to his feet.
In the fifth, a big right hand from Joshua shook Pulev who bravely fought back and had his best round of the fight. But Joshua ducked and shifted under the blows received, flashing a smile at the bell, which Pulev returned with a flash of his white rubber protector. The tough challenger tried to intimidate Joshua with punches to the back of the head, but Pulev had to take advantage of all his toughness and defiance in the seventh round. Joshua rocked him again with heavy combinations, but Pulev didn’t budge. He marked the champion with a great right hand.
Joshua was in control as they advanced into the eighth round, but had to be wary of some wild twist from Pulev, whose stamina was unmatched by technical excellence. The champion was much more impressive as he finished the fight with clinical authority.
In addition to securing a showdown with Tyson Fury, Joshua’s decisive victory also made a small slice of boxing history. His defeat of the brave Pulev came in the first world heavyweight title fight to take place in a biosecure bubble. A thousand raucous fans were allowed in, marking the first time a crowd was allowed to attend a boxing promotion in Britain since the start of the pandemic. Floyd Mayweather was also a surprise supporter of Joshua at Wembley Arena. Joshua’s fans raised the atmosphere, but his socially estranged noise was a reminder of how much boxing and the world have changed this year under the shadow of Covid.
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Joshua’s victory is expected to soon be followed by confirmation that he will face Fury in a potentially fascinating and surprisingly lucrative heavyweight unification world title competition next year. Eddie Hearn, the promoter, has predicted that a fight between Joshua, who owns the IBF, WBA and WBO belts, and Fury, the WBC champion, could raise more than £ 200 million and around 2.2 million. of pay-per-view. This would be only the first fight in a proposed two-fight deal.
For a brief period Saturday night, all of Fury and Joshua’s feverish talk was put aside as Pulev clambered up the ropes with the apparent intention of smashing these presumptuous plans. But Joshua had spent the last six months training hard and preparing diligently for Pulev, who has a decent jab, and was in no mood to waste his grip on the fight or his world championship belts.
Pulev’s insolence at the weigh-in, when he promised to “destroy” Joshua, had made him even stronger. But perhaps the Watford-born champion was driven more by his determination not to ruin the great opportunity he had won for himself, in the form of the extravagance against Fury, which also affords him a new opportunity to elevate his boxing reputation to a new level.
