Fast Results From Sofia and London: Pulev and Ryder Win Title Eliminators

A shoulder injury prevented Kubrat Pulev from challenging world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua in October of last year. As we recall, Pulev was forced to pull out with the fight less than two weeks away and was replaced by Carlos Takam. But now it appears that Pulev will get a second chance. Out of the ring for 18 months, he returned tonight in his hometown of Sofia, Bulgaria, and won a unanimous 12-round decision over Hughie Fury. The bout was framed as an IBF title eliminator which makes Pulev the leading contender to be in the opposite corner when Joshua makes his next title defense.

Pulev was a short favorite, in large part because of his “home field advantage,” but it was easy to build a case for Fury. The 24-year-old cousin of former lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, Hughie was the younger man by 13 years. Moreover, he appeared to be making steady improvement. His last outing against Sam Sexton was the best performance of his career. However, Pulev, who came in at 240 ½ at the weigh-in, his lightest since 2010, was in tip-top shape and actually looked like the fresher man in the late rounds.

Fury was cut over the left eye in the second round but his corner did a good job of stemming the bleeding and he likely would have come out on the short end regardless as Pulev repeatedly found a home for his left hand in a fight with no indelible moments. In winning his sixth straight – the scores were 118-110, 117-111, and 115-113 – the Bulgarian advanced his record to 26-1. In his lone defeat, he was knocked out in the fifth round by Wladimir Klitschko. This was Fury’s second loss in 23 starts, the first coming by majority decision at the hands of Joseph Parker. He’s still young enough to make waves in the heavyweight division, but that won’t happen unless he can somehow develop a harder punch.

COPPER BOX

At the Copper Box Arena in London, local fan favorite John Ryder, a southpaw, scored a seventh round knockout of Andrey Sirotkin, stopping his previously undefeated Russian adversary with a body punch. With the win, Ryder becomes the mandatory challenger for countryman Callum Smith, the WBA super world super middleweight champion (that’s a mouthful).

In a strange twist, both WBA 168-pound champions, Smith and Rocky Fielding, the “regular” champion, are Liverpudlians. Ryder previously lost a split decision to Fielding in Liverpool and although he’s earned a shot at a rematch, that’s unlikely to happen as Fielding is expected to lose his title when he faces Canelo Alvarez in New York in December.

The 30-year-old Ryder, who improved to 27-4 (15), is a tough customer, notwithstanding those four losses. Back in 2013, he lost a narrow (albeit unanimous) decision to undefeated Billy Joe Saunders. Tonight, he was trailing on the scorecards at the midway point of the fight, but he was clearly the stronger man and one could sense that he would eventually assume control. The light-hitting Sirotkin suffered his first loss after opening his pro career with 15 wins.

Check out more boxing news on video at The Boxing Channel

To comment on this article at The Fight Forum, CLICK HERE.