Interesting fight, I want to see how AJ handles an underrated fighter in Pulev (easily a top 10 fighter in my view and has a better resume than anyone Wilder has beaten) and is arguably the best jabber in the divison.
Did you not see his last fight? He looked terrible. I'll repeat myself in saying that when it was first announced a few years ago this was a decent fight. Pulev is old now. He'll probably make it competitive for a few rounds but he's only getting bowled over
This is bread and butter to Joshua. Like any heavyweight, Pulev can hurt with a big shot but he hasn’t got the speed & gas tank to steam in and ambush his opponent to finish them off. Joshua will beat him to the punch every time. I think he’ll spend the first few rounds catching him with the jab followed with the straight right but holding back on finishing him until he decided to. Probably round 5 or 6, just to shake off the ring rust and get a few rounds in. Easy fight at this stage.
I think with AJ, winning the IBF title in only his 15th fight and unifying with Klitschko in his 18th may have hurt his overall development. Seemingly he jumped from British to World level over night. Another 18 months at European/fringe World level, say another 6 fights may well have benefitted him greatly.
This. Pulev in 2017 was a live dog. Since then, Pulev has hung around for the big cash out fight and although he’ll be in shape, Joshua will be able to get a handful of rounds in before a highlight reel KO
Without bias I think this is a tough fight to sell full stop. Will no doubt fill out WHL but won't do anything amazing at the box office and very little interest to me. Pulev doesn't present any of the stylistic issues that smaller, come forward fighters like Povetkin, Ruiz or even Takam did. Pulev is sound technically but won't be hugely difficult to hit and can be hurt. He's not a banger and Joshua is superior athletically. No doubt the Sky hype machine will go to work with the 'underestimate him like Ruiz', 'only one loss', 'superb amateur' and that'll get a few bites. But this is nothing more than a keep busy fight for me.
