[ad_1]
By Jake Donovan
One night when ESPN offered the tough sell on Tyson Fury's debut on its streaming platform, Kubrat Pulev presented his best selling pitch in the ring as the best heavyweight contender.
The 37-year-old veteran of the boxer had a successful debut in the United States with a spectacular knockout in the 7th round against former amateur rival Bogdan Dinu. Three reversals in the seventh round made Dinu unfit to continue in his ESPN TV star, broadcast live from the Hangar in Costa Mesa, California.
Neither boxer was particularly active in the first round but he started just enough for the other to remain honest. Pulev picked up the pace in the second round by scoring combinations to push Dinu back into the ropes. It was just enough to catch the attention of the vocal crowd, which included a considerable number of spectators from Pulev's native Bulgaria.
That was also enough to keep Dinu's fight back, to use his jab even more to dissuade Pulev from rushing – at least until he realized that He could follow him with a right hand. The development provided an intense drama midway through the fourth round, when Dinu connected with non-consecutive indirect rights that left Pulev with a deep cut to the left eye.
To his credit, Pulev – who holds a 2007 win over Dinu in the amateur category – has beaten to death and rounded the round in style. Nevertheless, his corner was facing a difficult task between the rounds. Rudy Hernandez, Pulev's renowned coach, told ESPN's Bernardo Osuna that it was one of the worst cuts he had ever seen.
It's also the motivation that Pulev needed to move up a gear.
"It was not a big problem, this cut," said Pulev afterwards. "I could fight and sometimes the blood makes you very hungry."
The injury was also serious enough to cause the ring doctor to rush into the ring to examine at the beginning of the fifth round. Pulev was clear and rebounded. Dinu boxed on his toes, his pace being disturbed by a pressed Pulev who controlled the action inside, which prompted Dinu to pull himself together.
In the seventh round, Pulev's confidence was fully restored, which was bad news for Dinu.
A series of forehands made Dinu want to go to the canvas, but one too far almost ends in an anticlimactic end. Pulev managed to catch Dinu while he was on the canvas, registering with his right hand at the base of his opponent's skull.
The referee Raul Caiz handled the situation expertly. He first ruled on an official overthrow, while giving Dinu time to recover from what he had judged as an accidental foul. As Dinu finally recovered, Caiz informed all the ring officials to honor the overturn but also to deduct one point from Pulev's final score for the aforementioned foul.
He finally made debatable.
Pulev clearly had the blockade in his head, refusing to let himself go to a wounded opponent who was now running on fumes. Dinu could not escape his opponent's right hand, falling on the canvas in the middle of the round and barely beating Caiz's mandatory count as he stood up just before the third man reached the age of ten.
It was probably better to stay on deck because Pulev was not about to drop him. Three more straight hands forced Dinu to go to the bridge for the third time, which marked the end of the fight.
The official time was 2:40 of the seventh round.
The loss is Dinu's second straight in four months after a fourth round stoppage over Jarrell "Big Baby" Miller. The Romanian heavyweight of 6'5 attributed this defeat to a locked stick, but that night, they simply accepted the defeat against a better opponent.
"No excuse," Dinu said at the end of the fight as he fell to 18-2 (14KO). "I fought this guy because I want to be in the top 10. My last two defeats are now against two Top 10 guys."
Pulev improves to 27-1 (14KO) with this victory, his seventh straight since a defeat in the round of 16 against world heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko in November '14. The 2008 Bulgarian Olympic athlete has since returned to the title with a 12-round win over Hughie Fury – Tyson's cousin – last November.
This victory allowed Pulev to be the mandatory challenger to one of the titles of the alphabet currently in the clutches of the undefeated unified champion of England, Anthony Joshua. He risked this status by taking this fight, let alone after suffering a terrible cut at the halfway point of Saturday's deal.
"I was prepared, I was fit and I was ready for this moment," insisted Pulev. "I think it was very good in boxing today. I showed a good punch, a good strategy. We were very well prepared for this fight. "
Moreover, he must now prepare for a future that should include a much easier sale of his potential at the highest level. However, when it comes to taking a temporary fight while waiting for his place in the line for a title, it pays dividends from the point of view of marketing because he has fought in the blood to deliver the end of final.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
[ad_2]
Source link