BoxRec

Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev, known as The Cobra, will make his much-anticipated comeback after an absence of a year and a half in a fight against Briton Hughie Fury in Sofia on Oct. 27.

The fight to decide the challenger for the International Boxing Federation (IBF) world heavyweight title held by Briton Anthony Joshua will be Pulev’s first since April, 2017 when he beat American veteran Kevin Johnson in Sofia.

The IBF has ordered Pulev to face Briton Dillian Whyte and American Jarell Miller to decide a title challenger but the two turned down the fights, angering the Bulgarian.

“Two have refused so far - Whyte and Miller, but Fury has already said no problem and he will play,” the 37-year-old Pulev, who has only one loss in 26 fights, said.

“The date is clear - October 27, the fight will be in Sofia.

“It looks like it’ll be a very interesting game. He is a good, young boxer.”

Hughie Fury is a cousin of ex-world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.

Pulev pulled out of fighting Joshua in October, 2017 after suffering a shoulder injury. Joshua, who also holds the WBA, IBO and WBO titles, went on to beat his replacement Carlos Takam.

“I sustained the injury - I’m a man after all, though I’m almost a super man, but now I’m fully recovered,” Pulev said. “This game (against Joshua) will take place, it’s getting near and I have to win.”

Pulev, one of Bulgaria’s most popular sportsmen, turned professional at 28 in 2009.



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Pulev UD.

Find it funny he refers to a fight as ‘game’ and that he’s going to play..

Solid matchup. Tough to call.

I gotta go with Pulev here. Despite how impressive Fury was against Sexton, it is about levels and I am still not convinced. I actually gave Pulev a shot against AJ when they were matched and thought Pulev was legit top 5 at that time.

In respect he is correct in his anology of it being a game rather than a fight.
Even though I always say "fight" regarding a boxing match a fight is something you have on the street or in a pub.
Boxing is a sport and every other sports are classed as matches or games, regardless if it's contact or not.
The closest thing to a "fight" sporting wise is MMA.

In regards to the "fight" Fury needs to KO Pulev or batter him every round to get the win.

Pulev by dodgy UD

I'll stick my neck out here and say Hughie by clear decision.

Difficult to see Hughie getting a decision in Sofia.
Hope he takes the fight though, at least he will learn lots, get a payday and also it will keep him in the mix win or lose.

Coco wrote: ↑09 Aug 2018, 14:33 Difficult to see Hughie getting a decision in Sofia.
Hope he takes the fight though, at least he will learn lots, get a payday and also it will keep him in the mix win or lose.

Btw that can be the crucial factor. I predict their fight to be close and Pulev can take hometown decision.

Hughie proved he has learned a valuable lesson since Parker.
I think a 37 year old ring rusty Pulev will be made to work hard to try and catch Hughie. If he fades at all over the 12, Hughie will catch and finish him.
Good matchup.

Pulev won't beat Hughie fairly.

KiwiRider wrote: ↑09 Aug 2018, 16:06 I think a 37 year old ring rusty Pulev will be made to work hard to try and catch Hughie. If he fades at all over the 12, Hughie will catch and finish him.
Good matchup.

Hughie will definitely show Pulevs footwork to he pretty cumbersome, my issue is whether he can land enough offence while Pulev lumbers after him walking him down.

This fight has snoozefest written all over it. Which suits Hughie as the away fighter.

If it is close it will be difficult to see Hughie getting the decision, bit i'm confident Peter can come up with a good game plan to frustrate Pulev's jab and win a clear decision.

Would be good if Channel 5 show this.

Pretty confident Fury takes this on points possibly by late stoppage. Unless there's any dodgy home cooking!

Very confident in Pulev via KO in this one. Think he catches Hughie, and he tries to stand his ground more and try to get a KO himself.

Pulev might not have been very active of late, but he is a proven world class operator. Style wise, he's a hell of a lot more than a come forward plodder as is being suggested here. I think even without the fight being in his opponent's back yard, Fury is facing an uphill task. Pulev has heavy hands, strength and bags of experience. I just don't think think Pulev will have gone back enough for this to be a Fury win.

keithmoonhangover wrote: ↑10 Aug 2018, 10:08 Pulev might not have been very active of late, but he is a proven world class operator. Style wise, he's a hell of a lot more than a come forward plodder as is being suggested here. I think even without the fight being in his opponent's back yard, Fury is facing an uphill task. Pulev has heavy hands, strength and bags of experience. I just don't think think Pulev will have gone back enough for this to be a Fury win.

Agreed except the heavy hands part.

Pulevs problem has always been the lack of a big right hand to supplement his excellent jab.

Hughie actually could learn from Pulev how to jab probably.

Firstly I won't think this fight is happening until Hughie lands in Bulgaria for the fight.

IF it happens then I am slightly interested. I say slightly because it could be an awful fight with a lot of posturing with Hughie circling the ring not landing.

It's simple if Hughie wants to win this fight then he should do the exact opposite of what he did against Joseph Parker. This is where I think he will come unstuck again. After the Parker fight it wasn't " I could have done better, should have done things differently" it was " I won the fight I'm uncrowned champion". This suggests not much will change his style against a decent operator.

I only watched the last minute of the Sexton fight, but I saw him throwing right hands with speed and intention to do damage. He did not do this once against Parker.

IF the fight happens and if Hughie gets the win then it means he will have earned a world title fight properly unlike last time.

Naandrew wrote: ↑10 Aug 2018, 10:33 Firstly I won't think this fight is happening until Hughie lands in Bulgaria for the fight.

IF it happens then I am slightly interested. I say slightly because it could be an awful fight with a lot of posturing with Hughie circling the ring not landing.

It's simple if Hughie wants to win this fight then he should do the exact opposite of what he did against Joseph Parker. This is where I think he will come unstuck again. After the Parker fight it wasn't " I could have done better, should have done things differently" it was " I won the fight I'm uncrowned champion". This suggests not much will change his style against a decent operator.

I only watched the last minute of the Sexton fight, but I saw him throwing right hands with speed and intention to do damage. He did not do this once against Parker.

IF the fight happens and if Hughie gets the win then it means he will have earned a world title fight properly unlike last time.

All true but I will say it’s a lot easier being aggressive and looking to load up against wildly overmatched fighters like that version of Sexton.
That win is becoming a little overrated. Any potential world class heavyweight should be destroying a faded Sam Sexton.

I hope Hughie does retain a bit of spite if this fight goes ahead. He has the tools to beat Pulev, he just needs to be positive.

some people say hughie has new found agression, if he does ill be interested if he looks so hard to hit, its much easier to look slick when your just throwing air jabs and pretty much focused on defense. and if he is getting hit will he revert to form and start being overly defensive?

hughie vs parker was more like shades of journeyman trying to preserve himself then shades of ali

if hughie can really mix the offense and defense hes got a great chance to get the better of pulev

If it is actually happening and its in Sofia,........Hughie had better dig his toes into the canvas at some point and be prepared to throw some bombs. Pulev is Beckham with a pair of gloves over there.

Pulev has always disappointed me a bit - seems to be a guy with all the tools but sometimes takes the easy, nicely paid option and does not seem entirely serious about pushing for the top job and loves a nice. long break from the action as well - but at home and with his career on the line he'd force Hughie to raise his game by several notches and Hughie can't afford to flick and move and pinch a decision.

Sums it up perfectly.

In their own way, they both need to show what they are capable of in this fight...particularly Hughie.

It's a tough ask for Hughie and as I enjoyed his performance against Sexton. Sam is no Kubrat, so we can't get carried away that this is the all new Fury. Pulev is streets ahead of Sexton.

Whilst Peter Fury completely grasps the concept of doing more in crunch fights, it remains to be seen if Hughie can follow it through against world class opposition. Mind you, even if he comes up short again, there is so much time left for Hughie to learn and develop.

Fury on points, but it could be hard for him convincing the judges. He couldn't do it in Manchester so it's going to very har out there.

Naandrew wrote: ↑10 Aug 2018, 10:33 Firstly I won't think this fight is happening until Hughie lands in Bulgaria for the fight.

IF it happens then I am slightly interested. I say slightly because it could be an awful fight with a lot of posturing with Hughie circling the ring not landing.

It's simple if Hughie wants to win this fight then he should do the exact opposite of what he did against Joseph Parker. This is where I think he will come unstuck again. After the Parker fight it wasn't " I could have done better, should have done things differently" it was " I won the fight I'm uncrowned champion". This suggests not much will change his style against a decent operator.

I only watched the last minute of the Sexton fight, but I saw him throwing right hands with speed and intention to do damage. He did not do this once against Parker.

IF the fight happens and if Hughie gets the win then it means he will have earned a world title fight properly unlike last time.

The Sexton fight to me, showed Hughie learned from his fight with Parker. He threw more right hands, and when one connected flush, he went for the finish. He could have so easilly beaten Parker by landing two more right hands per round, it was that close. I'm glad he lost, because it was a good learning experience, and I think it will - and has - made him a better fighter.