By Scott Gilfoid: #1 IBF heavyweight contender Kubrat Pulev (20-0, 11 KO’s) defeated a flabby looking 39-year-old journeyman Ivica Perkovic (20-24, 15 KO’s) by a 3rd round stoppage on Saturday night at Stadthalle, Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Perkovic, with his nose bleeding from a steady diet of jabs he’d been eating, quit at the end of the 3rd round rather than come out for the 4th round.
Pulev, 6’4 1/2″, looked weak, and threw mostly jabs in the fight. Each time Perkovic would attempt a wild shot, Pulev would retreat backwards as if he were burned by a hot iron. To say that Pulev fought timidly is putting it lightly. He fought like Perkovic was a knockout artist.
In each of the three rounds, Pulev threw 4-10 right hands. When Pulev would throw right hands, it was like watching someone punching while under water. Pulev was pushing his punches instead of throwing his shots with power behind him. I’m not sure if he has shoulder problems or what, but the power just isn’t there with Pulev. His jab was excellent, but that’s all he had tonight. Against a fighter as flabby and out of shape as Perkovic, Pulev should have been able to KO this guy straightaway. Had someone like Deontay Wilder been in the ring with Perkovic tonight, he wouldn’t have made it out of the 1st round. Deontay would have poleaxed him with the first few right hands to the head.
Pulev backed Perkovic up against the ropes in each of the three rounds of the fight, and would spear him with jabs. Occasionally, Pulev would land a right hand to the body and weak rights to the had, but for the most part he was just throwing jabs. Perkovic didn’t seem to be all that interested in throwing anything back until the late in the 3rd round when Pulev hurt him with a right hand to his round midsection.
At that point, Perkovic shook his head as if he were quitting. But when he realized the referee was having none of it, Perkovic charged Pulev and landed some decent shots. Pulev looked shocked at the attack by Perkovic and couldn’t do much other than clinch and take the shots. Pulev didn’t have the talent or the power to fire back on Perkovic to stop him in his tracks the way that Deontay or Wladimir Klitschko would have done to him.
All in all, I was pretty disappointed by Pulev. He just looked like a big heavyweight with little power and only capable of throwing jabs. He wouldn’t last long against most of the top heavyweights. Heck, I could see even Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury and Dereck Chisora beating him. Pulev needs to develop his power because he’s going to get crushed by Wladimir when that fight happens. He reminds me of a slightly better version of Franceso Pianeta, but with less punching power than him.
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