Anthony Joshua Stops Kubrat Pulev To Setup Tyson Fury Match

Anthony Joshua dominated and then floored mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev
to score a ninth-round knockout and retain his WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight
titles at the SSE Arena, Wembley on Saturday.

With 1,000 ticket-buying fans allowed into the building for the first time
at a British fight since the COVID-19 pandemic began, Joshua’s entrance was
met by a huge roar from the partisan crowd which was topped each of the
four times he drove his Bulgarian adversary into deep trouble.

After a slow feeling-out process, Joshua exploded in the third round with a
series of hard shots that forced Pulev to back away from his opponent,
triggering a standing count. “AJ” then added a good old-fashioned knockdown
before the round was over for the 10-7 frame.

To the challenger’s credit, he was able to shake off the tumultuous stanza
and looked to come back into things, only for Joshua’s jab, finesse and
variety to keep him comfortably at bay. A shutout points win appeared to be
on the cards — until Joshua again hit high gear in the ninth.

Stringing together a series of short uppercuts, the champ put Pulev down
once more with a pair of hard shots before following up moments later with
a right hand for his first win inside the distance since 2018 when he
finished off Alexander Povetkin at Wembley Stadium, just down the road from
the SSE.

Fans and experts alike spent the buildup to Joshua’s first fight since
regaining his titles from Andy Ruiz Jr. wondering if he would attempt to
once again outbox his foe or perhaps consider a return to his vintage days
of dropping bombs on his opponents. The encouraging news was that the
champion displayed a slick hybrid of both — perhaps the slickest since he
turned pro.

Perhaps surprised Pulev wasn’t knocking at his door from the opening bell,
like the 39-year-old did the last time he challenged for the world titles
against Wladimir Klitschko, AJ kept things cagey in rounds one and two, but
did enough to win the rounds with jabs to the head and body.

Round three was when Pulev was introduced to Joshua’s power, and the
battle-hardened challenger initially responded to the aggression with a
wild-eyed grin, only to actually back away from the heat as shot after shot
landed and did damage.

Pulev could not flee the round’s second wave and he hit the canvas for a
knockdown. To his credit, he recovered from what could have easily been a
very brief titles challenge. But Joshua refused to let doubt or complacency
enter his mind.

The champion took every other round from the fourth until the ninth, when
“AJ” again decided it was time to crank up the heat and test Pulev’s
mettle. Though the Bulgarian was allowed to continue after the third count
of the bout, he was soon on the canvas again and did not get back up.

Joshua moves to 24-1 with his 22nd career knockout. Pulev, meanwhile, has
suffered only his second professional loss and is now 28-2 with 14 wins
inside the distance.

Lawrence Okolie looked like a new, improved and far more dangerous fighter
in the chief support bout of the evening, as he obliterated late
replacement opponent Nikodem Jezewski with three knockdowns in less than
two rounds of action before the official mercifully called it off. An
organ-displacing body shot brought the previously-undefeated Jezewski to a
knee early in the first, and knockdown number two really should have
triggered the referee stoppage before either man could warm their corner
stools.

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