Anthony Joshua vs. Kubrat Pulev - December 12, 2020

[Enlightened-One]

According to the latest betway betting odds, Tyson Fury has a 69.2% (4/9) chance of beating Anthony Joshua.

The same betting website rates Joshua's chances of defeating Fury at 36.4% (7/4).

Therefore, it's safe to say that people were unimpressed by AJ's display against Pulev, because he's considered the significant underdog in the Fury fight.

[ValMar]

I say 5-7 rounds.

I'd say 7-9.

I agree.

Not so bad.............

[AntonioMartin]

To all you not in the US who could watch the bout on TV..how was it?

(Im not sure it was shown here or not..was it?)

[cormack]

According to the latest betway betting odds, Tyson Fury has a 69.2% (4/9) chance of beating Anthony Joshua.

The same betting website rates Joshua's chances of defeating Fury at 36.4% (7/4).

Therefore, it's safe to say that people were unimpressed by AJ's display against Pulev, because he's considered the significant underdog in the Fury fight.

well at least we got to see AJ take his mandatory whilst Fury is sat on his couch growing facial hair !

I guess those odds for what they are worth would change if Fury had to work hard against a durable opponent like Pulev .

But that wont happen as he will pick another journeyman like a seferi and have a spar .

[FruitStealer]

To all you not in the US who could watch the bout on TV..how was it?

(Im not sure it was shown here or not..was it?)

It was one sided and somehow bizarre.
Ref should have stopped it in the third after 2 KD and Pulev turned his back on AJ.
Strangely Joshua pull the gas off after that and stick to the jab.
Pulev did nothing except eating big uppercuts all night.

[cormack]

AJ is gonna fight Usyk next despite having Fury lined up and ready to go.

Seems so. He was reluctant to call Fury out in the post fight interview. Shame on him.

good strategy actually I think , Usyk is slippery and tricky so good prep for Fighting Fury ,this also deals with the mandatory so keeps the belt intact and it seems Usyk wants it crowd or not .

[cormack]

Seems so. He was reluctant to call Fury out in the post fight interview. Shame on him.

I can’t blame AJ. He’s lacking confidence and he seemed angry or frustrated during his post-fight interviews.

His pre-fight promises to return to his rough-and-ready destructive form of old failed to come to fruition.

And at times tonight, he seemed overly-cautious to the point he often failed to pull the trigger.

He might need an easier fight to rebuild his confidence, because Fury can trade and he can box. He’s better than anyone Joshua has faced.

I don't know what it was about, but Pulev was clearly getting under his skin, and then they were arguing in the ring after the fight.

On DAZN the mics were picking it up in the background, before they caught the tail end of it on camera.
Pulev was in Joshua's face and kept repeating "remember who I am"
And AJ was looking pissed off saying "who [the f---] are you?"

It seemed like they had been exchanging heated words about something, until their teams guided Pulev away from Joshua.

Might be why Joshua looked angry and frustrated in the interviews.

Pulev is a real bad loser , this is exactly what he did after Vlad KO`D him bitchin and moaning on camera.
He just earned a reputed £3 mill for that so should be a tad more respectful imho .

[lazboy]

AJ is gonna fight Usyk next despite having Fury lined up and ready to go.

Seems so. He was reluctant to call Fury out in the post fight interview. Shame on him.

good strategy actually I think , Usyk is slippery and tricky so good prep for Fighting Fury ,this also deals with the mandatory so keeps the belt intact and it seems Usyk wants it crowd or not .

Completely understand that this could be a great learning fight for AJ but it's just not the fight we want to see. AJ Fury is very hot right now. I don't want it being derailed like AJ Wilder.
Also in terms of a learning experience, again fair enough I understand your point but AJ is a world champion and has been for a long time. I'm not persuaded he deserves a learning fight. He had a pretty breezy fight with Pulev, in that he wasn't damaged in any respect, it's time for him to have another hard fight. It's time for Fury.

[margaret thatcher]

lol at playing the bad ass to a guy who just battered the f@ck out of you, made you turn your back, and dropped you 3 times

[Evander]

Joshua carried him to the 9th, should have stopped him in the 3rd or 4th.

[lookingaround87]

Joshua carried him to the 9th, should have stopped him in the 3rd or 4th.

Nope, Joshua was gassed after the 3rd because he has awful stamina. If he "carried" him, he wouldn't have tried as hard as possible to KO him in the 3rd.

[Evander]

Joshua carried him to the 9th, should have stopped him in the 3rd or 4th.

Nope, Joshua was gassed after the 3rd because he has awful stamina. If he "carried" him, he wouldn't have tried as hard as possible to KO him in the 3rd.

Look again lookaround.

[DrDuke]

Joshua "gassed" comments are ridiculous. Shades of Joshua-Klitschko. He has no stamina problems. He just chose not to force it, because he's been punished for that once. He also was failing to find openings for some time, after Pulev had recovered.

[cormack]

Joshua carried him to the 9th, should have stopped him in the 3rd or 4th.

maybe they wanted some rounds considering its been a year ..

[candyslim]

That's how I saw it. Pulev isn't a huge puncher so not too risky to delay the finish. Pulev is as tough as a heavy-bag and significantly more elusive. Perfect for honing your technique if you're Joshua or experimenting with new ideas in a competitive environment. Why rush it when you've been out so long?

[lookingaround87]

Joshua carried him to the 9th, should have stopped him in the 3rd or 4th.

Nope, Joshua was gassed after the 3rd because he has awful stamina. If he "carried" him, he wouldn't have tried as hard as possible to KO him in the 3rd.

Look again lookaround.

Get your eyes tested, Evan.

[lookingaround87]

Joshua "gassed" comments are ridiculous. Shades of Joshua-Klitschko. He has no stamina problems. He just chose not to force it, because he's been punished for that once. He also was failing to find openings for some time, after Pulev had recovered.

He has huge stamina problems and is very slow. You don't "wait" to the 9th round to KO someone you could've got out there in the 3rd or 4th. The truth is, he had nothing left in him in the 4th and it was only until the 9th that he got his second wind and Pulev couldn't take anymore big shots that Joshua was able to get the KO. Pulev is absolutely awful and you yourself admit he "failed to find openings". Nor does Pulev have any power so he posed no threat to Joshua, yet still Joshua was scared. He was timid, uncoordinated, slow & gassed.

Overall, it was a very poor performance against an awful opponent, topped off by showing no desire whatsoever to face Fury.

[Jeff_lacy_ko]

lol at playing the bad ass to a guy who just battered the f@ck out of you, made you turn your back, and dropped you 3 times

Yeah what a jackass. Even mayorga would be civil after his humbling losses

[DrDuke]

Joshua "gassed" comments are ridiculous. Shades of Joshua-Klitschko. He has no stamina problems. He just chose not to force it, because he's been punished for that once. He also was failing to find openings for some time, after Pulev had recovered.

He has huge stamina problems and is very slow. You don't "wait" to the 9th round to KO someone you could've got out there in the 3rd or 4th. The truth is, he had nothing left in him in the 4th and it was only until the 9th that he got his second wind and Pulev couldn't take anymore big shots that Joshua was able to get the KO. Pulev is absolutely awful and you yourself admit he "failed to find openings". Nor does Pulev have any power so he posed no threat to Joshua, yet still Joshua was scared. He was timid, uncoordinated, slow & gassed.

Overall, it was a very poor performance against an awful opponent, topped off by showing no desire whatsoever to face Fury.

He wasn't literally waiting. He wasn't forcing much. But from time to time he was trying, there were some uppercut onslaught attempts neutralized by Pulev. His 9th round success didn't look as some wind up either. Just the opening was finally found. Joshua was exactly timid, but not gassed.

[joe strong]

I finally had a chance to watch the fight. I thought Joshua looked really good to be honest. He did what he had to do & he was much more aggressive. He mixed up his attack really well. There was lots of stiff jabs & rights. He was throwing to the body but man was he landing those uppercuts at will. One flurry he hit Pulev with 4 straight uppercuts in a row. I thought it was over in the 3rd but that frigging ref got in the way & gave Pulev too much time to recover & he made it to the bell. Pulev got himself back into the fight in rounds 6-8. He landed a few big rights that made Joshua grab but other than that it was really all Joshua. Pulev showed a good chin but he is 39 & really lacks the power needed to stand in the pocket & slug it out with big punchers. He is too brave for his own good. He reminds me of one of my all time favourites Francois Botha in his prime. Would stand in the middle of the ring & slug it out with Tyson, Lennox & Klitschko. He simply did not have the fire power to stand there & exchange with those big punchers. Pulev is in the exact same boat. It's tough to win a gun fight when you have a potato gun & your opponent has a bazooka. I am pretty sure any future opponent of Pulev saw how easy he was to hit with an uppercut. I say Wilder, Whyte & Povetkin would all take him out. I have no doubt Fury would beat him. Actually at this point I'm not sure Pulev beats anyone in the top 10. That was a solid win for Joshua & I think that ends Pulev's aspirations of becoming a world champion. I would still like to see him fight a few more times but only against top 25 guys. No more fighting the Rydell Bookers & old washed guys like Sam Peter. In 6 years since he lost to Klitschko he has had 9 fights. Leading up to Joshua only 2 were top 25. In 6 years he had 2 credible opponents. Chisora & Hughie. Kevin Johnson was also a decent win because Kingpin actually fought back in those days but for the most part he fought weak opposition. I like Pulev but I always felt his lack of power would be his downfall due to his style of fighting.

[Evander]

Nope, Joshua was gassed after the 3rd because he has awful stamina. If he "carried" him, he wouldn't have tried as hard as possible to KO him in the 3rd.

Look again lookaround.

Get your eyes tested, Evan.

Can't say he was gassed, it didn't look like that to me.
It could be said he expended some energy in the 3rd, but it seemed like there was plenty of gas in the tank even at that stage.
Joshua could have taken him out at almost any point he wanted, once he realized his power could overwhelm Pulev in an instant and take whatever comes in return, then he could play with him and finish it before the scorecards got tabulated.
He looked in control, steady and relatively comfortable throughout most of the contest, at least that's how it looked to me.

[brilo33]

i would say a decent performace from josh,aj team are right he cant go gun hoe and bash people anymore he needs to lean to box and defensively , i thought he got caught in them 2 worlds in that fight, i thought it looked a nervous start , but it worked when he started throwing in the 3 rd had pulev down, strange he never tryed to take him out in the 4th , paulev is tough but still expect aj to finnish him, aj looked to gas for a couple of rds 5 6 and let him back in , dangerous if that was a better fighter he could of been looking at ko himself , but a good knock out , still has got the quick hands that find the target,looked to be carrying far less muscle too

[Evander]

strange he never tryed to take him out in the 4th

^

[AntonioMartin]

Joshua carried him to the 9th, should have stopped him in the 3rd or 4th.

Maybe it was fixed and they were all in, including the ref, and it had to end in the ninth????

[Evander]

Joshua carried him to the 9th, should have stopped him in the 3rd or 4th.

Maybe it was fixed and they were all in, including the ref, and it had to end in the ninth????

Check the punches he was throwing.
Light jabs.
Seen this before.