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Kubrat Pulev has no regrets over pulling out of Anthony Joshua heavyweight boxing title fight
Bulgarian heavyweight boxer Kubrat Pulev is declared the winner in his fight with England's Dereck Chisora.
Bulgaria's Kubrat Pulev has no regrets about pulling out of his fight against world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua due to a shoulder injury and says he has not given up hope of fighting the Briton.
Joshua, undefeated in 19 fights since turning professional in 2013, will now defend his IBF world title against Frenchman Carlos Takam in Cardiff on October 28 in his first bout since defeating Wladimir Klitschko to win the WBA title in April.
Pulev said the chance to win the title was more important to him than the money on offer and he had decided to wait for another chance.
World heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua was meant to put his belts on the line against Kubrat Pulev in Cardiff this month.
"It wasn't easy for me to make that decision," the 36-year-old told Bulgarian media. "I know, in my place, almost everyone would choose to get into the ring in Cardiff, despite everything, and collect a few million."
Pulev, one of Bulgaria's most popular sportsmen, was confident he had the weapons to dethrone Joshua.
"I can beat Joshua ... but I can't beat him if I'm injured," he said.
Pulev turned professional at 28 in September 2009, less than a year after winning the European amateur boxing title in Liverpool.
Known as The Cobra, he has held the European heavyweight title twice and challenged for the unified world heavyweight title in 2014, losing to Klitschko in Hamburg on a fifth-round knockout.
Pulev could be in for a long wait for a shot at Joshua, who is being lined up to face Cuban Luis Ortiz, the mandatory challenger for his WBA title, after the Takam fight.
- Reuters
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I think takam will prove more entertaining than pulev.
Ulev would have tried to jab off the backfoot for a couple of rounds before being bludgeoned in a corner, takam will at least go for it
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(10-19-2017, 10:30 AM)Infern0 Wrote: I think takam will prove more entertaining than pulev.
Ulev would have tried to jab off the backfoot for a couple of rounds before being bludgeoned in a corner, takam will at least go for it
Like he went for it against Parker? I disagree, i reckon its survival until he gets bludgeoned in the corner.
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IMO Takam will be Joshua's first opponent to take him the distance.
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I think the barometer is with his Povetkin fight, not Parker. How did he get knocked out cold against Povetkin? Can AJ do the same?
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Lucas Browne vs. Sergey Kuzmin on Nov.27
date October 17th, 2017 - Post Comments »
By Jim Dower: Former WBA heavyweight champion Lucas “Big Daddy” Browne (25-0, 22 KOs) is reportedly fighting unbeaten Sergey Kuzmin (11-0, 8 KOs) on November 27 for the WBA Inter-Continental title in Moscow, Russia.
Kuzmin has big time power going for him as well as his youth. What he doesn’t have is much experience as a pro against good opposition. Kuzmin holds Eurasia Pacific Boxing Council heavyweight title. During his time as an amateur, Kuzmin captured the 2010 Amateur Boxing championship title. Kuzmin also beat Joe Joyce of Great Britain by a 1st round knockout in 2013 at the 2013 European Amateur Boxing Championships. Joyce improved immensely and went on to capture a silver medal in the 2016 Olympics in losing a close decision to Tony Yoka of France in the finals. I’m not sure that Kuzmin could hang with Joyce right now. In the amateur ranks, Kuzmin caught Joyce at the right time 4 years ago when he was still green.
Kuzmin has some good wins during his amateur career in beating Olympic gold medalist Robert Cammarelle of Italy and Ivan Dychko. Whether Kuzimin can hang with Lucas Browne in the pros is a different matter. Many of Kuzmin’s wins in the amateur ranks took place many years ago, and he looked slow and crude even back then.
Browne, 38, is trying to get momentum back with his career since testing positive for a banned drug after knocking out WBA World heavyweight champion Ruslan Chaggaev last year on March 5. After 15 months out of the ring, Browne recently defeated journeyman Matthew Greer (16-20) by a 2nd round knockout on June 2.
The 30-year-old Russian Kuzmin turned pro in 2014. He has wins over Malcolm Tann, Vaclav Pejsar, Mike Sheppard and Konstantin Airich. Kuzman has heavy hands and good size at 6’3”, 244 lbs. However, Kuzmin has never beaten anyone of note, and he’s not viewed as a future world champion caliber fighter.
This is a big step up for Kuzmin to take on a fighter of Browne’s level. What you can say about Kuzmin is he’s catching Browne at the right time in his career with him having only 1 fight in the last year and a half, and being 38.
As a pro, Kuzmin has looked good and bad. He’s very slow and he tends to throw looping shots that leave himself open to being countered. Kuzmin went the distance against journeyman Emilio Ezequel Zarate in his second fight as a pro in 2015. This is the same Zarate that Shannon Briggs knocked out in the 1st round in 2016, and Hughie Fury stopped in the 2nd round in 2015. It’s not a good sign that Kuzmin was forced to go the full 6 rounds with Zarate. It suggests that Kuzmin doesn’t have the power or the boxing skills to put away a mediocre journeyman level fighter.
Browne can really punch, and Kuzmin is not hard to find at all. If Kuzmin fights with his usual wide open style against Browne, he could get taken out quickly. Kuzmin is a wild slugger. He’s going to have problems against the heavyweights that can box and move on him. Browne is definitely is going to test Kuzmin’s chin. But like I said, Kuzmin is catching Browne at the right time in his career. He might be too young for Browne to deal with.
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That's a really strange comeback for Browne. Kuzmjn is an unknown with high risk, no reward, and back in Russia where he got screwed. Must be getting paid a fortune.
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DiBella: Wilder vs. Whyte To Get Joshua is Stupid, Whyte Irrelevant!
Promoter Lou DiBella, who works with WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (38-0, 37 KOs), feels it's absurd that his boxer would have to face Dillian Whyte to earn a unification with IBF, IBO, WBA champion Anthony Joshua (19-0, 19 KOs).
Joshua was preparing to face Kubrat Pulev for his first fight since his dramatic 11th-round stoppage of the great Wladimir Klitschko in April, but a shoulder injury saw the Bulgarian pull out this week and Carlos Takam step in to take the heavyweight bout on October 28 in Cardiff.
The biggest fight for Joshua is a unification with WBC champion Deontay Wilder. (38-0, 37 KOs), who faces Bermane Stiverne on November
Joshua's promoter, Eddie Hearn, believes that fight could use a little more sizzle, which is why he wants Wilder to face Dillian Whyte and the winner gets Joshua. Whyte fights Robert Helenius for the WBC silver belt on the Joshua-Takam undercard.
"I think the Wilder fight is one for next summer. I’d like [Wilder] to fight Dillian Whyte. I mean I’ve talked to [Wilder's] guys again today - and the winner fights Josh. [WBO champion Joseph] Parker is a fight we could look at in February or March. But you know we’ve got a WBA mandatory, potentially... I don’t know," Hearn told BoxingScene.com's Declan Taylor.
"But I think the main aim is to fight three times next year, and I’d like two of those [fights] to be for additional belts. It doesn’t always work out like that, but the aim is to become the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world."
DiBella feels the idea is ridiculous, because he views Whyte as an "irrelevant" piece of the puzzle in Wilder's plans.
The New York promoter wants to know why Hearn - if Whyte is so valuable at the weight - didn't match him against Joshua - when Pulev fell out of the main event.
"The concept that we would somehow feel obligated, or the necessity to fight Dillian Whyte for a chance to fight Anthony Joshua is a joke," DiBella told Sky Sports.
"In the past - this is a fact - we offered Hughie Fury on numerous occasions to fight Deontay. He turned us down. We would love to fight Joseph Parker at any point, any place. They can put it in a soccer stadium in New Zealand and Deontay will still knock him out. We're not running from that fight. We're not running from any fight. It's nothing against Dillian Whyte personally, but I have no need to discuss Dillian Whyte. Dillian Whyte is irrelevant to the future of Deontay Wilder.
"If Dillian Whyte is such a force in the heavyweight division, why is AJ fighting Carlos Takam and not Dillian Whyte? Once Pulev was injured, I imagine AJ could have fought anyone he wanted, and Dillian Whyte was scheduled to fight, so why isn't AJ fighting Dillian Whyte? I think AJ is a great young fighter, but I think the greatest danger to AJ in the world is Deontay Wilder. I think the fight will eventually happen."
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Joe Joyce makes his debut in less than an hour, he won a silver medal at the Rio Olympics and is also a commonwealth games gold medalist and won bronze at Europeans and World championship. He's 32 so is being fast tracked and is signed to David Hayes, Hayemaker promotions. He fights Ian Lewison 12-3-1. Could be an interesting fight, and its live and free to view here in England.
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Ian will make Joyce look average. His looping hooks will be like Kuzmin vs Joyce.
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