Kubrat Pulev in action on April 5th in tune-up bout

By Boxing News - 03/28/2014 - Comments

pulev5By Allan Fox: #1 IBF heavyweight contender Kubrat Pulev (19-0, 10 KO’s) will be fighting next week against an opponent still to be determined in an 8 round stay busy fight at the Stadthalle, Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Pulev, 32, has already nailed down the mandatory IBF spot to challenge IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko later on this year after beating Tony Thompson by a 12 round unanimous decision last year in August.

Pulev has been waiting ever since then for his eventual title shot against Wladimir, but his waiting will be over later this year when he finally meets up with the 6’6” Ukrainian world champion.

Pulev, 6’4 ½”, has already had a tune-up bout against journeyman Joey Abell last December in halting him in the 5th round of a scheduled 12 round bout in defense of his IBF International heavyweight. That title won’t be on the line for his April 5th fight, because the fight is scheduled for just 8 rounds, and it’s expected to be someone even softer than Abell in order to keep Pulev completely away from risk.

Pulev has great skills, and an excellent jab, but he doesn’t have a lot of punching power. He’s not someone that can go out and blow away his opposition in 2-3 rounds, even when facing weak opponents. Pulev doesn’t have that kind of a game. He’s more of a jabber, and he uses that as his power punch. When he does throw power shots, they’re often slapping blows that do little other than sending Pulev crashing into his opponents for an immediate clinch.

Pulev has wins over Alexander Ustinov, Alexander Dimitrenko, Michael Sprott, Travis Walker and Derric Rossy. He’s not fought anyone that you could call a good fighter other than Thompson, and in that fight Pulev mostly wore him down by fighting hard. Thompson got the better of Pulev in the first 6 rounds, but when Thompson faded in the 2nd half, Pulev was able to come on and get the decision win.

Unless Pulev is able to develop his power by the time he faces Wladimir later on this year, he’s very likely to get knocked out. He’s not going to be able to beat Wladimir by jabbing him for 12 rounds, because Wladimir has a better jab than he does. This means that Pulev will be getting hit with some really big shots from Wladimir in addition to the jabs he’ll be throwing to beat Pulev from the outside.



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