By Daily Sports on October 29, 2018

Kubrat Pulev ended an 18-month exile with a unanimous points win over Hughie Fury to become IBF No. 1 challenger for world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.

After a scrappy fight, Pulev earned scores of 117-111, 118-110 and 115-113 in front of his home fans at the Arena Armeec in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Pulev, 37, was a worthy winner but did not give Fury's fellow Englishman Joshua too much to worry about and was briefly in trouble in the eighth round.

It was second defeat in just over a year for Fury (21-2, 11 KOs), after he lost on points to New Zealand’s Joseph Parker for the WBO world title in September last year.

Fury, younger cousin of former world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, had to contend with a cut eyelid from Round 2 and faded after a promising start.

Pulev (26-1, 13 KOs) now hopes to be in the corner for Joshua's next fight at Wembley Stadium on April 13 after missing out on facing the unified heavyweight world titleholder in Cardiff a year ago when he pulled out with a shoulder injury two weeks before.

Fury, who stopped Sam Sexton for the British belt in May, was criticised for not throwing enough punches against Parker, but he made an aggressive start against Pulev, with his right hand effective in the first round. Pulev responded with a decent one-two on the bell, but the Englishman landed more in the opening session. (ESPN)

•Photo shows Pulev 

Source Daily Sports

Posted October 29, 2018

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