By Mark Eisner: Anthony Joshua vs. Kubrat Pulev live fight results from their DAZN and Sky Box Office card at the SSE Arena in Wembley, England:
IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (24-1, 22 KOs) stopped a very old looking IBF mandatory Kubrat Pulev (28-2, 14 KOs) in the ninth round on Saturday night. Joshua dropped the 39-year-old Pulev twice in rounds three and two more times in the ninth to get the stoppage.
The fight was halted after Joshua flattened Pulev with a straight right hand to the head in the ninth. The time of the stoppage was at 2:57 of round nine. Moments before that, Joshua had knocked Pulev down with a right uppercut.
In the 8th, Joshua had Pulev repeatedly uppercuts and discovered that the Bulgarian had no defense for that weapon.
- Cruiserweight contender Lawrence Okolie (15-0, 12 KOs) destroyed replacement opponent Nikodem Jezewski (19-1-1, 9 KOs) by a second-round knockout. Okolie, 6’5″, dropped the little known Jezewski by a body shot in the first round. From there, Okolie hurt Jezewski multiple times in the round with right hands to the head that had his legs and looking on the verge of following. Towards the end of the round, Okolie dropped Jezewski a second time, this time with a head shot. In the second round, Okolie hurt Jezewski with a big right to the head caused his legs to go again. Moments later, Okolie knocked Jezewski, and the fight was stopped by referee Phil Edwards. Okolie was initially supposed to face Krzysztof Glowacki for the vacant WBO cruiserweight title, but the Polish fighter tested positive for COVID 19 and was forced to pull out. With the win tonight, Okolie captured the WBO International cruiserweight title. Okolie will now fight for the WBO world title against Glowacki next. Okolie looked much improved from his previous fights, as he didn’t clinch frequently as he’d done in the past.
- Former heavyweight world title challenger Hughie Fury (25-3, 14 KO) pounded out a round unanimous decision over 40-year-old Mariusz Wach (36-7, 19 KO). The scores were 100-90, 100-90, and 99-91. Boxing News 24 scored it 100-90 for Hughie. In the third round, Hughie suffered a bad cut over his left eye from a clash of heads. His corner did a great job of patching up the cut, and it wasn’t a factor for the remainder of the fight. In the fourth round, Hughie appeared to hurt Wach with a right hand at the start of the round. He attempted to finish Wach, but he was unable to put him down. From the sixth round, Hughie began boxing from the outside to protect his cut, and he cruised from that point on. Moved a lot to keep Wach from landing anything, but he wasn’t doing much himself, though. Withe win, Hughie could face former cruiserweight champion Marco Huck next for the EBU heavyweight title. Ultimately, what Hughie wants is to get back in the top 15 rankings, so that he can work his way towards another world title shot.
- In an ugly fight, heavyweight contender Martin Bakole (16-1, 12 KO) defeated Sergey Kuzmin (15-2, 11 KO) by a 10 round unanimous decision. The scores were 96-94, 98-92, and 97-93.
- Junior middleweight prospect Kieron Conway (16-1-1, 3 KOs) defeated Macaulay McGowan (14-2-1, 3 KOs) by a 10 round unanimous decision. In the 8th round, Conway dropped the 26-year-old Conway. The final scores were (100-90, 100-89, and 100-89).
- New Matchroom Boxing signee welterweight Florian Marku (7-0-1 5 KOs) got off to a bad start with his new promoters by fighting to a disappointing eight-round draw against Jamie Stewart (2-0-1). The fight was scored 76-76. Marku wasn’t too pleased with the fight being ruled a draw, but that was a fair score. Stewart put in a lot of effort and made it tough on the Albanian fighter. It’s unclear what Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn was expecting when he inked the 28-year-old Marku. Still, after watching him struggle against domestic-level fighter Stewart, it doesn’t seem like he’s destined to become a world champion at 147.
Preview:
IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (23-1, 21 KOs) will be battling his IBF mandatory Kubrat Pulev (28-1, 14 KOs) in the headlining spot tonight on Sky Box Office pay-per-view and DAZN in London, England.
Pulev looking to pull off an upset
Joshua, 30, and Pulev were supposed to fight three years ago in Wales, but the Bulgarian fighter Kubrat had to pull out the week of the fight with an injury.
Surprisingly, Pulev was able to work his way back into another mandatory spot and wait patiently for two years before finally getting the title shot tonight.
Pulev has visibly aged in the last three years, and he looks every bit of his 39 years, if not more, but he’s still fighting at a high level and seems to have a lot left in the tank.
Joshua will be coming off a usually long 12-month layoff when he enters the ring tonight against Pulev, as he’s been sitting on the shelf since December 2019 due to the pandemic.
The 2012 Olympic gold medalist Joshua last fought against Andy Ruiz Jr in beating him by an impressive 12 round unanimous decision in Saudi Arabia.
It was a good fight by Joshua, who changed his fighting style and looked like a duplicate of Wladimir Klitschko. That style of movement, clinching, and jabbing worked perfectly for Joshua to defeat the rotund 283-pound Ruiz.
Joshua has lost a year of his career due to the pandemic, and he missed out on two fights by sitting on the sidelines through no fault of his own.
For his part, Pulev last fought in November 2019, defeating journeyman Rydell Booker by a 10 round unanimous decision in Fresno, California.
The scores were 98-92, 99-91, and 98-92. Pulev has lost nine pounds since then, weighing in at 239 pounds last Friday for the Joshua fight.
Other fights on tonight’s card on DAZN and Sky Box Office:
- Lawrence Okolie vs. Nikodem Jezewski
- Hughie Fury vs. Mariusz Wach
- Martin Bakole vs. Sergey Kuzmin