Kubrat Pulev Defeats Dereck Chisora – Boxing News

By Dave “‘Madcap” Mroczek

While the American boxing public prepared for the middleweight championship of the world in Las Vegas, a very nice little heavyweight drama was unfolding at the Barclaycard Arena in Hamburg, Germany. More of the American fans should treat themselves to these late afternoon contests held in Europe, there is a lot of great action being missed out on. In this instance we got a very solid matchup of former world title challengers Kubrat Pulev and Dereck Chisora, this time for the European title.

Both of these fighters needed a win in a big way. Kubrat Pulev was coming off a tough loss to then world heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko a year and a half ago. After taking some time off and a couple of tune up fights, Pulev was looking to prove he can still be a top ten operator in the heavyweight division.

Chisora of course is always game for the big fights, but it has been many years since he has seriously threatened to win one of them. Dereck Chisora is running out of chances at the higher levels, and a win over Pulev would immediately breathe some much needed life back into his career.

At the weigh in there was a little bit of a shoving match between camps, and the usual Chisora dust-up would be a precursor to some pretty good fireworks in the fight. Pulev came in good shape, but didn’t appear to be in the very best fighting shape of his career. Chisora came in lighter than some of his previous fights and looked ready.

In the early going, Pulev set up his range, and showing the fast hands that may be his best skill, peppered Chisora with his jab, all the while sneaking in the odd well timed straight right or uppercut. Chisora was game, and was landing some effective body work, but it wasn’t enough to win the points away from the sharper Pulev. To begin the third round, Dereck landed a very effective and sustained body attack. Unable to keep up the pace throughout the round, Pulev came back with some sharp punches and had Chisora hurt by the end of the frame. Kubrat Pulev would continue to rack up the points and by the end of the sixth appeared to be in complete control of the fight.

In the seventh round, Chisora tried to turn the tide. After some effective body punching which really seemed to be wearing on Kubrat, he landed one of his good overhand hooks flush on the cheek which stopped Pulev in his tracks. He would find home again with another couple of blows in the ninth that really seemed to hurt Pulev, but he was able to clinch and get out of trouble before any real damage had been done. Chisora had come to win, but two or three good punches do not make a fight, he simply didn’t have enough gas left in the tank to beat a man as crafty as Pulev. Kubrat weathered the storm well, and regained control of the fight after that. While both men were now clearly tired and weary, Chisora was a totally spent force and Pulev was able to coast to the victory. At one point, Dereck was reeling against the ropes and the fight might have been stopped then with not much argument. But Chisora remained on his feet, made the final bell, and inexplicably even was ahead on one judges scorecard in a split decision loss.

Kubrat Pulev proved that he deserves to be in the top ten, and that even at the age of thirty five he still has much to offer in this wide open heavyweight division. His class really showed in this fight. Kubrat Pulev is an interesting type of boxer. He has decent size, but is not really big. He punches have snap, but doesn’t have real big power. His defense is adequate, but he seemed to concede the body to Chisora. He is well rounded. His class comes from his speed, his sneaky jab, his use of movement, and his ability to time his right hand accurately so his opponent will take his very best punch flush twelve to fifteen times in the fight. He shows a sharpness in his game that will keep him in big fights for a few years yet to come.

Dereck Chisora on the other hand, needs to think about where he can go from here. During the fight he attempted to rough Pulev up a bit but ended up getting handled by the better man. He once again appeared not to be able to produce the punch output that will give him a chance to win against the higher ranked opponents. No matter how many times he swears he will go on the attack more, he just cannot muster any sustained attack. This needs to be his last foray into the top ten. Certainly boxing fans will respect the fact that this man has always taken the tough fights, and has had a good career in the upper ranks of the heavyweight division. Dereck Chisora really doesn’t appear to have anything to offer in the top twenty anymore, and should he choose to fight on, would benefit from stepping down in level so fans can continue to enjoy his career.

So another good fight over in Europe. Another name fans can bring back into the conversation at the top of the heavyweight division.

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