In this preview I’ll give my thoughts on the heavyweight world title clash between Anthony Joshua and Kubrat Pulev which takes place the Saturday 12th December in London. I give my predictions, how to watch them and the full undercard.
Joshua vs Pulev
Two-time Heavyweight World Champion, Anthony Joshua OBE (23-1, 21 KOs) meets his challenger, Kubrat Pulev (28-1, 14 KOs) on 12th December as they fight for the IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO heavyweight titles.
An effective fighter with supreme physique, AJ is one win away from a shot of becoming the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. The only thing that stands between him and an ‘undisputed mega fight’ with Tyson Fury, is of course Kubrat Pulev!
However, as Joshua knows only too well he can not look past his next fight. Especially with a fighter of Pulev’s pedigree. A warrior with only one loss in 29 fights (to Wladimir Klitschko in 2014), he will be doing everything in his power to cause an inconceivable upset on fight night.
Will AJ sweep aside Pulev and continue on his path on becoming the Undisputed Champion, or will another underdog with nothing to lose, cause the upset of the year. Similar to what Andy Ruiz Jr did in Madison Square Garden.
It should be an interesting match up, with both fighters checking each other out in the early round, but I do expect some fireworks at some stage as both men.
It will also be great to see 1000 fans back in to watch boxing in the UK again at SSE Arena for the first time since the pandemic hit.
Hopefully having a little more of an atmosphere will help urge the fighters to push on to engage a bit more which has been lacking in a lot of the closed door boxing events this year.
Predictions
I think like most, we are expecting AJ to put on a performance on Saturday night. Joshua, will be facing an aging but dangerous heavyweight with a good jab, but will it be enough to take out the bigger man in Joshua? I don’t think he will slip up again like the fight against Ruiz.
With the potential of facing Fury for one of the biggest fights in boxing to be made, I expect Joshua to make a statement on Saturday. KO Joshua.
Where to watch Joshua vs Pulev
The fight will be live and exclusive on DAZN Globally here.
In the UK it will be shown on Sky Sports Box Office here.
Undercard
There is also an good undercard this Saturday, with some solid heavyweight contests, there will also be Lawrence Okolie fighting Jezewski in a cruiserweight bout and popular Albanian boxer Florian Marku will be making his Matchroom debut.
See the full undercard list below:
Lawrence Okolie vs Nikodem Jezewski – Crusierweight bout
Hughie Fury vs Mariuz Wach – heavyweight bout
Martin Bakolie vs Sergey Kuzmin – heavyweight bout
Qais Ashfaq vs Ashley Lane – super bantamweight bout
Florian Marku vs Jamie Stewart – welterweight bout
Kieron Conway vs Maculay McGowan – super welterweight bout
Hope you enjoyed this fight preview! Make sure to check out my new boxing style analysis on Anthony Joshua below to find out exactly what the unified heavyweight champion does well in the ring!
