By Scott Gilfoid: As I predicted, #3 WBC Kubrat Pulev (23-1, 12 KOs) totally dominated former world title challenger Dereck Chisora (25-6, 17 KOs) in beating him by a 12 round split decision on Saturday night in their fight for the vacant EBU heavyweight title at the Barclaycard Arena in Hamburg, Germany.

The final judges’ scores were 116-112, 118-110 for Pulev and 115-113 for Chisora. I’m not sure what fight the judge was watching who scored it for Chisora, but it clearly wasn’t this one. Pulev dominated the fight and really wore Chisora down with his jabs and right hand.

The taller 6’4 1/2″ Pulev used his powerful jab and long reach to nail the shorter 6’1″ Chisora from the outside. When Chisora did get close enough to land shots, Pulev would tie him up in a clinch. Chisora would keep throwing shots in the clinch, but he wasn’t able to get much power on his punches.

In the 6th round, Chisora hurt Pulev with a hard right hand that briefly staggered him. However, Pulev was able to get out of the round without taking any additional big shots. It was a good round for Chisora.

Chisora seemed to fade in rounds 9 through 12, as he kept retreating to the ropes and getting worked over. It just looked like Chisora was tired and needed to take rest breaks. Pulev really teed off on Chisora each time he would back up to the ropes.

By the 10th round, Chisora’s right eye began to swell up badly and his left eye was swollen as well from Pulev’s hard jabs.

Besides this fight having the EBU strap on the line, it was also an IBF eliminator. With the win, the 35-year-old Pulev puts himself in position for a title shot against IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. Chisora, 32, must feel pretty bad right now because if he’d won the fight, he would have had the chance to get a huge payday against Joshua. That fight would have meant big money for Chisora. Now unfortunately he has to start all over again with his career if that’s possible.