Vinny’s Views: Anthony Joshua Vs Kubrat Pulev – The Stats, The Facts & The Fight Prediction Is In!
By Vinny “Glory Days” Lucci
With all the magnetic storms that have been raising havoc over the Atlantic Coastline boxing fans have been looking for category 5’s of their own to keep their minds off their troubles and praying a few last hurricanes hitting the canvas instead of the coastline. True pundits await the fistic artistry this fall that Lomachenko Vs Rigondeaux will supply as “the” tropical storm to witness. The casual fans and enthusiastic media will hunger for the heavyweight’s arrival to liven up the thunder with bombastic approval. That is to say, regardless of many great talented champions on today’s landscape audiences still crave to see two goliaths clash like titans.
Enter Anthony Joshua fresh off his last title defense against former champion Wladimir Kitschko this past April looking to turn back the challenge of his top rated available contender Kubrat Pulev. The IBF ranks him at number two with the number one slot vacant. On paper, this match will supply the boxing community with an entertaining knockout.
The Venue:
Anthony Joshua defends his IBF and WBA heavyweight titles. Bout to be held at Principality Stadium in Cardiff Wales. Promoted by Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sports. Bout to be shown on Showtime, October 28.
Back story to event:
The WBA had Luis Ortiz ranked as the number one mandatory for Joshua. He would take step aside money allowing Pulev to ascend to fill the challenger’s role and would then be mandatory for winner. Pulev fulfills the IBF mandatory position this year for Anthony, unless they wish to screw him over and suddenly anoint a fighter the number one ranking and force him to defend against that boxer in a timely fashion. Former champion Wladimir Klitschko retired and subsequently abdicated the number one slot. Since all this crap was decreed Ortiz landed himself a title shot against WBC champion, the enigmatic Deontay Wilder who gave his mandatory Bermane Stiverne step aside money so he could face Luis Ortiz. Stiverne will now fight Dominic Breazeale on the Wilder/Ortiz undercard for mandatory consensus. Notice I wrote consensus, not status. As you just witnessed cutting through all the alphabet bullshit nothing in boxing is written in stone and without a national commission to govern the insanity it will always be politics; business as usual.
What makes this all so frustrating is that all four major sanctioning bodies list their top fifteen contenders. That’s 60 heavyweights plus the champions. Even hard core fans would be hard pressed to name ten heavies in total making one yearn for yesteryear when even housewives and children knew who sat on heavyweight throne, who they vanquished for title, how many defenses they made and who their top contenders were.
The Stats:
Anthony Joshua stands a hulking 6”6” and weighed in for hisprevious bout at 250 lbs. with an 82” wingspan. The British fighter has used weight training to bulk up to massive proportions making former champion Mike Weaver look like a middleweight. His perfect record looms imposingly at 19-0, 19 KO’s. He fights from the orthodox stance and is 27 years old making his fourth defense of title.
Kubrat Pulev is a formidable sized foe standing 6’4” with an 80” reach. The Bulgarian boxer is 36 years old poised in a “now or never” position to become champion having failed in his first attempt against Klitschko back in 2014. The Bulgarian boxer sports a fashionable record of 25-1, 13 KO’s and fights out of the orthodox stance. Pulev should match up evenly with Joshua on scales.
Styles:
The champion is a come forward boxer who works behind a heavy Liston like jab. With arms molded from concrete slabs he tends to tire in the middle rounds. Hard to find fault with a fighter with a perfect KO ratio and for a man of his size he does have many weapons in his arsenal. What has become problematic is a porous defense and suspect chin.
The challenger possess a stand up European style of boxing and is terribly flat footed. He owns a pesky nimble jab that he follows up with straight right hand. As he plods forward his hand speed is just enough to give credence for his ability to dispatch second tier competition. He can double up on hooks but tends to leave too many openings in his defense when throwing combinations, exposing both the left side of his face as well as right rib cage.
What to look for fight night:
The untrained eye can break this one down quickly while enjoying the fight as it unfolds. Anthony will walk his man down and eventually back him up. The champion fights best when letting his hands go so he must not allow Pulev to establish his less superior jab dictating a rhythm. In clinches, Kubrat will let a free hand go in hopes of landing a sucker punch and try to tire out the muscle bound Joshua. The biggest chink in his armor is his susceptibility to left hooks as exploited in his challenge of Wladimir Klitschko.
Previous bout:
Anthony turned in what is so far the “fight of the year” candidate against Klitschko back in April where both behemoths boxed and brawled and each tasted the canvas. The torch was officially passed with 11 round TKO. AJ proved he could rise like a phoenix from the ashes and still conquer the most formidable boxer of his career.
Kubrat fought 12 hard rounds against Kevin Johnson the same month winning a unanimous decision, but consider this. Johnson is another common opponent of Joshua. The Champion stopped him in two rounds in May of 2015. Add to the fact that since being stopped by Klitschko, Kubrat’s next five victories came over opponents whose combined losses were 55!
Odds:
Vegas line has made Joshua a clear 10/1 favorite.
The Vinny Factor:
Joshua distractors will quickly point out problems in both his stamina and ability to absorb a haymaker. Yet, he has not only survived his first true test, but flourished through adversity and proven to himself and those distractors that he belongs center stage. With the heavyweight pool of talent razor thin there is only a couple of intriguing names that present a danger in once again bringing him to the precipice of defeat. Kubrat is not one of them. The current list of Luis Ortiz and Deontay Wilder will be on display against each other on November 4th. Ortiz now 36 years old quite possibly peaked back March of 2016 against Tony Thompson. Wilder has legitimate one punch knockout power with either hand but his skills are laughably pathetic and his chin is equally fragile as Joshua’s.
Prediction:
Anthony Joshua by eighth round stoppage. Kubrat simply isn’t in Klitschko’s realm of superior boxing abilities and he lacks the power and crisp combinations of the former champion. He will however supply Joshua with a rust preventing workout keeping him on target to maintain a possible unification match in March.
Stay Tuned…
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