Pulev says he wasn’t in top form for Thompson fight

Tony Thompson, Kubrat Pulev(Photo Wende) By Scott Gilfoid: It looks like unbeaten Bulgarian heavyweight Kubrat Pulev (18-0, 9 KO’s) wasn’t altogether pleased with his 12 round unanimous decision win over 41-year-old Tony Thompson (38-4, 26 KO’s) in Germany last Saturday night. Pulev won the fight by the scores of 116-112, 118-110, and 117-111.

However, he looked far from impressive. You can really say that the only reason Pulev won the fight was because Thompson got tired. I had Thompson winning the first four rounds, as did many other boxing fans who saw the fight.

The win now makes the 6’4 ½” Pulev the mandatory challenger for IBF heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, but Wladimir did a lot better job in beating Thompson than Pulev did. Pulev had to struggle to win; whereas Wladimir crushed Thompson in 6 rounds last year in July in their 2nd fight together.

read more

Pulev defeats Thompson; Abraham beats Shihepo

By Jim Dower: Arthur Abraham (37-4, 28 KO’s) earned a 12 round unanimous decision over the better than expected Willbeforce Shihepo (20-7, 15 KO’s) to win the vacant WBO Inter-Continental super middleweight title on Saturday night at the Sport and Congress Center, Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.

read more

Tony Thompson vs. Kubrat Pulev tonight in Germany

Boxen, Wiegen in Schwerin, Kubrat Pulev, Thony Thomsen(Photo credit: Wende) By Allan Fox: Tonight unbeaten heavyweight contender Kubrat Pulev (17-0, 9 KO’s) will get a chance to prove whether he actually deserves a title shot against IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko when he faces Tony Thompson (38-3, 26 KO’s) in a scheduled 12 round bout at the Sport and Congress Center, Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.

Pulev, 32, has been saying that none of the heavyweight contenders want to fight him, but the 6’5” Thompson has stepped up to face him. Pulev will now have to prove that he can beat his first quality opponent of his career. Up until now, Pulev’s German handlers have been extremely careful with the opponents he’s been put in with.

In a way, Pulev has been matched a lot like German based heavyweight contender Manuel Charr. Pulev has wins over Alexander Ustinov, Alexander Dimitrenko, Michael Sprott, Travis Walker, Derric Rossy, and Dominick Guinn.

read more

Thompson with 11 lb. weight advantage over Kubrat Pulev

Boxen, Wiegen in Schwerin, Kubrat Pulev, Thony Thomsen(Photo credit: Photo Wende) By Allan Fox: Tony Thompson (38-3, 26 KO’s) weighed in at a career high weight of 263.9 lbs. for his fight on Saturday night against undefeated heavyweight Kubrat Pulev (17-0, 9 KO’s) at the Sport and Congress Center, Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.

This is slightly more than the 262 lbs. that Thompson weighed in at for his first fight against David Price last February. The difference here is Thompson looks a lot more solid than he did for that fight, and his weight looks like mostly muscle this time.

For his part, Pulev weighed in at 252.9 lbs. This is slightly more than what Pulev normally weighs for his fights.

read more

Kubrat Pulev in must win fight against Tony Thompson on Saturday

Pulev_Thompson(Photo credit: Team Sauerland) By Eric Thomas: Unbeaten #1 IBF heavyweight contender Kubrat Pulev (17-0, 9 KO’s) has been given a very ranking by the International Boxing Federation despite a lack of real quality on his resume. On Saturday night, the 32-year-old Pulev will face his first real opponent in his 4-year pro career when he battles the 6’5” Tony Thompson (38-3, 26 KO’s) at the Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.

If the 6’4 ½” Pulev can win on Saturday night against Thompson, and that in turn will get Pulev a title shot against IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko. Pulev’s chances of beating Wladimir are virtually nonexistent due to his lack of power, but at least he’ll get a good payday by being the mandatory challenger.

read more

Kubrat Pulev and Tony Thompson battle this Saturday; winner becomes Wladimir’s IBF mandatory

Kubrat_Pulev_2(Photo credit: Team Sauerland) By Eric Thomas: American heavyweight Tony Thompson (38-3, 26 KO’s) has a chance to lock himself in for another world title shot against IBF/IBO/WBO/WBA heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko if Thompson can beat undefeated Bulgarian heavyweight Kubrat Pulev (17-0, 9 KO’s) this Saturday night on August 24th in their IBF heavyweight eliminator bout at the Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.

Thompson, 41, is going to have to really impress to get the win in this fight, because Pulev is considered the home fighter in this one due to his German promoters. Thompson may need to get a knockout to ensure that he gets out of the ring with a win, because there’s a possibility he could lose this one by a controversial decision.

read more

Kubrat Pulev vs. Tony Thompson: Amateur vs Pro?

pulev1By Ivan Ivanov: Kubrat Pulev vs Tony Thompson – Amateur vs Pro?
Some boxing experts and writers frivolously use the term “amateur’ in a negative sense and seem to forget it has a different meaning in boxing and has little bearing to skill level or attitude to the sport.

“The Cobra” and “The Tiger” seem like good examples how amateur and professional boxing converge, if there is any principal difference at all.

read more

Kubrat Pulev vs. Tony Thompson – preview and prediction

Michael Sprott(GB) vs Kubrat Pulev (BUL)(Photo credit: Wende) By Ivan Ivanov: This fight is scheduled for Aug. 24 and since it’s a final eliminator for the IBF title, the winner gets a shot at Wladimir Klitschko unless Alexander Povetkin can cause an improbable upset. The fight would have been interesting anyway because we don’t get to see a meaningful heavyweight fight very often.

Let’s look at the facts first: Tony Thompson is 6′ 5″ /196cm, his reach is 81½″/207cm he weighed 259 lbs in his last fight, age 41. Kubrat Pulev is 6′ 4½″/194cm, reach 80″/202cm, weight around 250 lbs, age 32. Pulev is orthodox, Thompson is a southpaw and this will be a factor in the fight.

Thompson has more experience as a pro and he has faced harder opponents, he has been tested and evaluated as a solid contender, a first echelon gatekeeper to the throne. He lost twice to W. Klitschko but he exposed twice David Price who was a decent amateur at least on paper.

read more

Tony Thompson faces Kubrat Pulev on August 24th in IBF heavyweight eliminator

pulev5By Allan Fox: #4 IBF, Tony Thompson (38-3, 26 KO’s) could be on the verge of getting a third shot at IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko if the 41-year-old Thompson can beat undefeated #1 IBF, Kubrat Pulev (17-0, 9 KO’s) next month in their IBF heavyweight eliminator bout on August 24th at the Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.

The International Boxing Federation gave their approval today that the Thompson-Pulev fight will be an IBF heavyweight eliminator bout with the winner becoming the mandatory challenger of the winner of the Wladimir Klitschko vs. Alexander Povetkin fight on October 5th.

read more

Tony Thompson to face Kubrat Pulev on August 24th

thompson4543By Allan Fox: #8 IBF, Tony Thompson (38-3, 26 KO’s) will be battling unbeaten Kubrat Pulev (17-0, 9 KO’s) on August 24th as a possible IBF eliminator bout to get a shot against IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko.

Facing the 6’4 ½” Pulev is definitely the toughest road to get a title shot against Wladimir, but it is the quickest one that Thompson can get.

He’d be waiting for a long time to get a crack at WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko, and that avenue is pretty well blocked given that Thompson isn’t ranked in the top 15 by any of those organizations.

read more