Boxing
BULGARIAN BOXER KUBRAT PULEV ACCUSED OF RACIALLY ABUSING ANTHONY JOSHUA
Kubrat Pulev sparked accusations of racism ahead of his world heavyweight title fight with Anthony Joshua by claiming ‘his tan is better than mine’.
The 39-year-old Bulgarian will battle it out it with Joshua for his WBA, IBF and WBO titles, with the fight set to take place on December 12 after it was initially postponed due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
And ahead of the pair’s upcoming title fight, Pulev was asked about his verdict on Joshua – in which he made a controversial comment about his opponent’s skin colour.
And following Pulev’s comments regarding Joshua, many boxing fans let their feelings be known on social media.
After hearing what Pulev said, one fan wrote: ‘That’s a shameful 1970s comment. Awful.’
‘Kubrat Pulev sadly proving why #BlackLivesMatter is needed. Idiot!’, another boxing follower said on Twitter.
And the condemnation of the Bulgarian’s comments kept on coming on social media on Thursday.
Another fan said: ‘I hope Anthony Joshua smashes the living daylight out of Pulev after that “tan” comment.’
Someone else added: ‘I think Joshua will take that Pulev comment and ram it down his throat. Expect him to want to hurt him.’
The Bulgarian’s comments come after the country’s football team were forced to play two matches behind closed doors for their fans’ racist abuse towards England players in a Euro 2020 qualifier last year.
England’s 6-0 victory over Bulgaria was stopped twice and was close to being abandoned, but Gareth Southgate’s side chose to play on in Sofia.
Bulgaria were subsequently fined a mere £65,000 by UEFA.
The Bulgaria supporters’ horrific actions included Nazi salutes and monkey chants towards England’s black players.
President of the Bulgaria Football Union, Borislav Mihaylov, and Bulgaria boss Krasimir Balakov resigned as part of the fall-out from the game.
Twelve arrests were made, with four supporters handed fines and two-year bans.
Meanwhile, it is not the first time that Pulev has landed himself in hot water.
Last year, the Bulgarian kissed a female reporter on the lips following his knockout victory over Bogdan Dinu.
After he was heavily criticised online, the boxer then insisted the pair were actually ‘friends’.
‘You may have seen a clip of me kissing a female reporter following an interview after I won my fight Saturday night,’ Pulev said.
‘The reporter, Jenny, is actually a friend of mine, and after the interview, I was so elated, I gave her a kiss.
‘Later that night, she joined me and my other friends at my post-fight celebration. On the video, after our kiss, we both laughed about it and thanked each other. There really is nothing more to this.’
But the reporter, Jennifer Ravalo, gave a different version of events, claiming she was left ‘immediately shocked and embarrassed.’
Pulev had been due to take on Joshua at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in June but that was rescheduled due to the pandemic but he has now confirmed it will go ahead on December 12 in London.
‘No turning back, no procrastination! Kubrat Pulev vs Anthony Joshua! The date is December 12th and the place is London!,’ the Bulgarian, known as ‘The Cobra’, said on his Facebook page recently.
Pulev became the mandatory challenger to Joshua’s IBF crown after beating Hughie Fury by unanimous decision back in October 2018.
-Daily Mail
Boxing
Fury furiously vows to go ‘destroy mode’ in rematch with Usyk
Briton Tyson Fury said he will throw caution to the wind when he faces heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk and aim for a knockout victory in their rematch.
In their first bout in May, Fury hit his stride in the fourth round and engaged in some showmanship as he caught Usyk with vicious body shots, but the Ukrainian battled back and turned the tide in the eighth round.
Usyk’s powerful punches to the head left Fury reeling and the previously undefeated boxer struggled through the final rounds of the fight before losing by split decision and relinquishing his WBC heavyweight championship.
The rematch will take place on Dec. 21 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with the WBC, WBO and WBA titles on the line.
“I’m going to go in there with destroy mode. Last time I went to box him, I was being cautious. I boxed the head right off him,” Fury told TNT Sports on Saturday.
“Let’s talk facts. Anyone can get caught, as we’ve seen in a lot of these heavyweight fights, but this time I’m not going for a points decision.”
Fury added that he is still keen on facing fellow Briton Anthony Joshua, despite the former champion’s knockout defeat at the hands of Daniel Dubois in an IBF title fight last month.
Joshua and Fury had been set to face off in a proposed ‘Battle of Britain’ bout in 2022, but the fight fell through.
“At the end of the day, it would be a travesty if we didn’t fight,” Fury said.
“No matter if he loses 20 more fights. If he doesn’t win another fight and has 10 years away from the game, it doesn’t matter, we have to fight.”
-Reuters
Boxing
Anthony Joshua addresses retirement talk
After Saturday’s night defeat to Daniel Dubois, Anthony Joshua’s boxing career looked heading to an end as the former two-time world champion was knocked out in the fifth round of their heavyweight bout at Wembley Stadium.
But a determined Joshua has said that he would not quit easily. He has played down any talk of retirement following his defeat.
His defeat ended any immediate hope of becoming a three-time world champion. A British-record crowd of over 96,000 people saw Dubois retain his IBF World Heavyweight title with a victory that shocked the boxing world
The 27-year-old put in a dominant performance, flooring Anthony Joshua in the first round with a strong overhand right that he never truly recovered from.
Despite coming forward in the fifth round with a big straight right-hand, Dubois countered with devastating knockout blow.
“Always walk with your head high, we rolled the dice, for the third time, 13 world title fights, not every one has been successful, but they’ve all been fun and entertaining,” Joshua was quoted by Independent as saying.
He was talking about his future. “You’re probably asking if I still want to consider fighting? Of course I want to continue fighting.
“We took a shot at success and we came up short. What does that mean now? That we’re going to run away? We’re going to live to fight another day. And that’s what I am – I’m a warrior.
“There were a few mistakes in there but that’s the name of the game. Fine margins will cost you at the top level.
“Also before I finish, we have to give credit our opponent Daniel. When I sign up to fight opponents, I don’t really like them in my head any more. But now that it’s done, I take my hat off to him and say well done.”
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn, according to Manchester Evening News, admitted this was the first time he’d seen the former two-time world champion hurt during their 11-years working together.
“It’s probably the only time in his whole career I’ve seen him really hurt, it’s not bad, having won two world championships and 13 world title fights, to the point he couldn’t get up,” Hearn added.
“It’s the first time in his career that he’s been properly hurt, you never want to carry on too long, but AJ doesn’t have many miles on the clock. When Ben comes to me and says, ‘he doesn’t look the same fighter any more’, and AJ will make that decision.
“We’ve seen the best AJ over the last year, it’s difficult to say that’s it. These are the closing chapters of his career. We have another fight with RS, Dubois is part of that plan. So too is Tyson Fury or another heavyweight. 2025 is going to be an interesting year for Joshua, against whoever, you’ll be entertained.
“Our interests are that he leaves this sport with legacy, money and his health in tact, knocked out like that you have to look at that. That was just a shot, trading with a huge right hand, it doesn’t matter who you are, you’re getting knocked out.”
Boxing
How dynamite Daniel Dubois demolished Anthony Joshua to retain IBF heavyweight belt
Britain’s Daniel Dubois destroyed Anthony Joshua’s dream of becoming a three times heavyweight world champion with a fifth-round knockout to retain his IBF belt at a packed Wembley Stadium on Saturday.
Dubois dropped his compatriot to the canvas in the opening round with a stinging right, the referee delivering a standing eight count, and the 27-year-old proceeded to tear up the pre-fight predictions as swiftly as he ripped into his opponent.
Joshua, 34, took another hammering in round two but managed to ride out the storm before round three came crashing down around him again.
With Dubois landing more fizzing right-handers, Joshua was literally on the ropes before being saved by the bell.
He could barely stand at the end of the fourth, after going down again with two minutes remaining, and then it was all over in the fifth with the painstaking rebuilding of his career suddenly in ruins.
After landing a few promising blows, any signs of a fightback faded with a right to the chin that sent Joshua down, the former IBF, WBA and IBO champion this time unable to get back on his feet.
“I’ve only got a few words to say: Are you not entertained?,” declared Dubois after the biggest win, and first at Wembley, of a 24-fight career with two defeats.
“I’m a gladiator, I’m a warrior to the bitter end. I want to get to the top level of this game and reach my full potential.
“I’ve been on a rollercoaster ride. This is my time, this is my redemption story, and I’m not going to stop until I reach my full potential.”
RECORD CROWD
Organisers said a British post-World War Two record of 96,000 spectators attended the Saudi-funded fight at London’s Wembley Stadium.
Among them were Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher, singing three songs on his 52nd birthday ahead of a reunion next year, and Ukraine’s WBC, WBA and WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk.
Usyk has beaten both Joshua and Dubois already and will fight Britain’s Tyson Fury, also present, in a rematch in Saudi Arabia in December.
Joshua might have hoped to have a crack at the winner of that fight but instead faces an uncertain future with Dubois sending a seismic ripple through the familiar heavyweight landscape.
Dubois said he hoped for another shot at Usyk, who beat him in nine rounds in Wroclaw, Poland, last year.
Usyk previously held the IBF belt but vacated it for the Fury rematch, with Dubois the interim holder and upgraded to world champion in June.
“Credit to him and his team. We rolled the dice of success, but we came up short,” said Joshua after his 13th world heavyweight title fight left him with a record of four defeats from 32 bouts.
He had first won the IBF belt in 2016 from Charles Martin at London’s O2 Arena. Joshua then lost it to Andy Ruiz in 2019 but won it back later that year. Usyk then took it from him in 2021.
“We keep rolling the dice. I had a sharp opponent, a fast opponent and a lot of mistakes from my end, but that’s the game.”
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn said he expected to exercise a rematch clause.
“It’s a dangerous fight because he’s growing in confidence all the time but he’ll believe he can beat him,” he said.
-Reuters
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