Bulgaria’s Pulev has agreed to face veteran heavyweight Rydell Booker on November 9 as part of a card ESPN will televise from Fresno, California. The Pulev-Booker bout will be part of a broadcast that’ll feature WBO junior lightweight champion Jamel Herring, who’ll make his first title defense against mandatory challenger Lamont Roach.
Carl Moretti, vice president of boxing operations for Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc., confirmed to BS.com on Tuesday that Pulev, who’s co-promoted by Top Rank, and Booker have agreed to box. ESPN.com first reported that their heavyweight bout was in the works.
The 38-year-old Pulev (27-1, 14 KOs) is the IBF’s No. 1 contender for a mandated shot at champion Andy Ruiz Jr. Ruiz – who also won the WBA, WBO and IBO titles from Anthony Joshua on June 1 – is contractually committed to an immediate rematch with Joshua.
The 38-year-old Booker (26-2, 13 KOs) tested unbeaten prospect Jermaine Franklin (20-0, 13 KOs), but he lost their 10-rounder by unanimous decision April 13 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The only other opponent to beat Booker was former three-division champion James Toney, who defeated him by unanimous decision in a 12-rounder 15 years ago.
Booker served nearly 12 years in prison on a drug-dealing conviction between the Detroit native’s losses to Toney and Franklin.
The bouts between Herring (20-2, 10 KOs), a former Marine from Coram, New York, and Roach (19-0-1, 7 KOs), of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, and Pulev and Booker will be televised by ESPN from Chukchansi Park. That’s the home baseball stadium of the Fresno Grizzlies, the Washington Nationals’ Triple-A affiliate.
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