44-year-old Kubrat Pulev is officially set to defend his secondary WBA heavyweight title against former cruiserweight champion Murat Gassiev atop a December 12th IBA show in Dubai.
Pulev (32-3, 14 KO) recently
got the order to face ultra-prospect Moses Itauma, but per Dan Rafael, “The Cobra” had already signed to meet Gassiev (32-2, 25 KO) before said order went out. As evil as the WBA can be, Hanlon’s razor is most likely in play. This at least leaves Itauma free to explore his original December 13th plan.
Now more than a decade removed from his rout at the hands of Wladimir Klitschko, Pulev has remained a stubborn fixture of the heavyweight scene. His current 12-2 run, marred only by a stoppage loss to Anthony Joshua and questionable SD at the hands of Derek Chisora, most recently saw him cruise past Mahmoud Charr last December to claim the belt in his hometown of Sofia, Bulgaria.
Gassiev, once the terror of the cruiserweight division before a deflating loss to Oleksandr Usyk in the 2018 Super Series tourney, has simply never found momentum as a heavyweight. Seven fights in the last seven years have produced little more than an uninspiring loss to Otto Wallin and subsequent knockout win over unbeaten-but-unremarkable Kem Ljungquist.
The guy can still crack, though, and Pulev doesn’t exactly have his namesake’s ferocious speed. Could be fun.
