Box superstar Anthony Joshua remains four-time heavyweight world champion. The 31-year-old Brit won on Saturday evening (local time) in London against the Bulgarian Kubrat Pulew, trained by Ulli Wegner, by knocking out in the ninth round and successfully defended his WBO, IBF, WBA and IBO belts. In front of 1,000 spectators at the Wembley Arena, the 39-year-old Pulew did not use his second World Cup chance after losing the duel with Wladimir Klitschko in 2014.
This clears the way for a union fight with WBC world champion Tyson Fury on the part of Joshua. Whether the fight between the two Englishmen will really take place in the coming year remains to be seen. Most recently, the Joshua party had accused Fury again and again of shirking the duel.
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn had predicted a knockout against Pulew within the first six rounds. His protégé started out cautiously, then showed his entire repertoire in the third round. Pulew went down twice and was just about to knock out. But Pulew recovered and even won the sixth round. In the ninth lap, Joshua first got through with his right hook, then ended the fight with a hard straight.
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