BoxRec

Pulev gave Vlad a real go, I enjoyed the fight, but I think the Chisora fight shows he is European rather than world level, and if he has a go at Joshua he will be given a painful beat down.
Nevertheless who else is there to fight? He is the mandatory, Parker and Wilder both have titles but aren't any better quality.
Fury is the only man out there but is way out of shape, the only other ones really are Hughie and Ortiz.

I admit this fight is no where near as exciting as Klitschko VS Joshua 2 sounded but in reality it is a fight that solves a lot of problems for Joshua, either in the political sense or competition sense.

Fighting Pulev next means the IBF can't strip him of their title, meaning he keeps the IBF, WBA Super and IBO world titles. Another thing to consider is he finally gets his #1 contender out of the way and can now fight whoever he want's without any interference.

Competition wise; Pulev has been in the world contention for a while, he fought Wlad a while ago and has improved since, he's clearly above the European level and would provide a better technical challenge then say Whyte or Haye would domestically and leaving Parker or wilder alone means the idea of a big unification fight is still a possibility later on.

Can't say I'm thrilled because Pulev is not very good. But he's the mandatory and in the current climate passes for a highly rated heavyweight so he needs dealing with. Simple as.

i think pulev will be joshuas best opponent to date. klit was clearly on his way out even before joshua got to him. pulev is much nearer his peak, and is big strong and experienced.

Pulev can`t punch. AJ will smack his bitch up within a few rounds.

AJ next 5 fights after he towels Pulev should be.

Ortiz
Baby Miller
Adam Kownacki
Jun Long Zhang
Danny Dubois

That would give us some excitement.

crusader wrote:There's really not all that much out there in terms of good opponents. The division is about as weak as it was when people moaned about it during Wlad's reign..

True.
But the difference will be that AJ will continue to KO all comers in more exciting fashion than Wlad did. Full respect to Wlad, but he was not that fan friendly with his cautiousness.
We have had threads about up and coming HW prospects and so far as I can tell, it's slim pickings.

So I'm OK with Pulev, I expect him to have the fight of his life, or that is how he will remember it the next day when he regains full consciousness.

Even though I don't give pulev much chance, he is one of the best opponents Joshua could face

So it's pretty much as good as it'll get

jimcook wrote:i think pulev will be joshuas best opponent to date. klit was clearly on his way out even before joshua got to him. pulev is much nearer his peak, and is big strong and experienced.

There's no way pulev is better than Wlad who turned out against joshua

forcefraser wrote:Pulev can`t punch. AJ will smack his bitch up within a few rounds.

AJ next 5 fights after he towels Pulev should be.

Ortiz
Baby Miller
Adam Kownacki
Jun Long Zhang
Danny Dubois

That would give us some excitement.

Giving the big Chinese heavy a shot could be a huge moneymaker

WBA and IBF belts to split again now WBA have ordered a defence against Ortiz?

forcefraser wrote:Pulev can`t punch. AJ will smack his bitch up within a few rounds.

AJ next 5 fights after he towels Pulev should be.

Ortiz
Baby Miller
Adam Kownacki
Jun Long Zhang
Danny Dubois

That would give us some excitement.

This list is solid pal but DDD won't be fighting for world honours for another two years lots of learning to do !

Ossyrules wrote:Even though I don't give pulev much chance, he is one of the best opponents Joshua could face

So it's pretty much as good as it'll get

I don't know pal Wlad flattened Pulev inside 5, I think AJ could do better and hammer him in 3

kbackup408 wrote:

Ossyrules wrote:Even though I don't give pulev much chance, he is one of the best opponents Joshua could face

So it's pretty much as good as it'll get

I don't know pal Wlad flattened Pulev inside 5, I think AJ could do better and hammer him in 3

I don't disagree it could be a quick blow out. He is fairly well skilled and big though, so if he fights more cautiously he could go a few more.

My main point was that other than pulev, there are only a few guys who are better, marginally better at that as well

forcefraser wrote:Pulev can`t punch. AJ will smack his bitch up within a few rounds.

AJ next 5 fights after he towels Pulev should be.

Ortiz
Baby Miller
Adam Kownacki
Jun Long Zhang
Danny Dubois

That would give us some excitement.

Dubois is so far away from a Joshua fight it's unreal. Fighting Dave Allen would be a big step up for him

Ossyrules wrote:

kbackup408 wrote:

Ossyrules wrote:Even though I don't give pulev much chance, he is one of the best opponents Joshua could face

So it's pretty much as good as it'll get

I don't know pal Wlad flattened Pulev inside 5, I think AJ could do better and hammer him in 3

I don't disagree it could be a quick blow out. He is fairly well skilled and big though, so if he fights more cautiously he could go a few more.

My main point was that other than pulev, there are only a few guys who are better, marginally better at that as well

True, this is a major cause for concern in the HW division, the gap between top level and rest is widening each year

It hardly seems fair when there's a handful of full-time fighters who can train and rest whenever they want/need to - then you've got fighters lower down the ladder having to train around full-time shifts.

If his next three opponents are Pulev, Ortiz then a unification with either Wilder or Parker/Hughie then provided he comes through all those fights that's a pretty shit hot resume for a modern day heavyweight.

seeing as he's only fighting twice a year now that's basically about a year and a half for somebody else to prove themselves relevant, and there will be someone. Whoever wins the cruiserweight tournament will undoubtedly move up and that will be interesting at least. You don't know how somebody like Joe Joyce is going to do, either. He's old so they'll have to move him fast and he'll be on Dave. Loads of people will watch him and he he has two years of high exposure looking decent I'm sure he can end up being part of an another all-british mega promotion that everyone will talk about.

On his day Pulev a top contender with solid boxing skills.

Joshua did Vlad fair and square so no problem him moving on with his career. Not every match can be a super fight, so AJ can start building his legacy by starting to clean up the division by shooting down the contenders one by one. He's doing just fine, whereas poor Wilder being forced to face no hoper Stiverne again.

Really like this fight.

AJ second best opponent after WK.
I'm a big fan of Pulev. He's a plodder, but a effective one.
Also hopefully it's down the road in Cardiff which is a Brucie Bonus for me.

Selby-Quigg on the card if in Cardiff I'm guessing

How can people say pulev is no good ? He's only lost to wlad and give him a tough fight until he got caught , he's a good fighter , Joshua will win but it will be entertaining

Is Fastcar taking a chance by removing the name Klitsckho, replacing it with Pulev and still expecting 90,000 seats sold in Cardiff???

I think he is, if you were told there was gonna be a gig with Springsteen and Pearl Jam in Cardiff say, and then Springsteen retired and was replaced by James Blunt, you simply wouldnt go.

I get the sense that it could be a rather dull yet somehow very necessary/useful title defence for AJ.....

...and unless you come from downtown Sofia, it is not a match-up that really electrifies anyone and has folk cancelling all their plans to watch it.

But I still think AJ needs to see off someone like Pulev; he's seasoned, technical, cagey and big and strong enough not to get easily slapped aside.

Doing a few rounds with Pulev might not be a bad thing in the long run for AJ and who knows; Pulev might chance his arm a bit as this is likely to be his last shot and things get tastier than expected?

If Pulev boxes clever I think he can cause problems. He fought like a fool against Wlad, but I do think he's a decent opponent. Other than Wlad he's better than Joshua's other opponents.

I'm just waiting for Bellow to step up and say ,, I want AJ , i don;t like him , he's a tosser , he's not fought anyone has quick , nimble and poowerful has me , I destroyed Hay , i'll moorder AJ , ask me how i know ,, ME gran ,, , yep mee gran had a dream , she had a vision , i'd moorder him . i only do it for me kids , I want AJ ,,