Who Wins This Weekend’s Heavyweight Title Battle Joshua or Pulev?

It has been over a year since Anthony Joshua regained the WBA, IBF, IBO and WBO World Heavyweight titles from David Ruiz in Saudi Arabia. Since then, fellow Brit and rival Tyson Fury has claimed the WBC belt from Deontay Wilder and despite talk of the two potentially meeting to unify the division, it seems that any such fight won’t happen until 2021.

Before then however, Joshua will be in action this coming weekend when he defends the belts he regained last year against Bulgarian heavyweight Kubrat Pulev. The Bulgarian, 39, has suffered just one defeat in his career, to Wladimir Klitschko back in 2014 and although ranked highly by a number of organisations, his age is considered to be a factor against him.

It’s the biggest heavyweight battle this year since Fury v Wilder earlier on in 2020 and it promises to be an exciting one for those viewing, including 1,000 spectators at Wembley Arena, as well as millions via pay per view. There will also, of course, be plenty of interest on he betting on the fight and if you are looking to place a bet on the outcome, or to bet In Play when the bell rings to start the bout, and you need a site that offers excellent boxing betting, then the bet365 New Player Bonus is the place to start.

Bet365 Sport Open Account Offer

Up to £100 in Bet Credits for new customers at bet365.

Min deposit £5. Bet Credits available for use upon settlement of bets to value of qualifying deposit. Min odds, bet and payment method exclusions apply. Returns exclude Bet Credits stake. Time limits and T&Cs apply.

Interest in this fight is truly global however and stretches well beyond the UK borders. If you are based in the US in a state that allows sports betting, such as Pennsylvania, then what are your options there? A great place to start is with the latest BetRivers Promo Code offer which gets you signed up with BetRivers popular sports book and casino site.

You can actually also access BetRivers Sports Book and Casino from Indiana too, but here you have a different option available to you when you sign up. Use the latest BetRivers Affiliate Code, which is “HOOSIERBONUS” when you sign up to claim yourself an equally good deal at the site from the Hoosier State.

Lastly, in other states another potential option is the latest DraftKings Online Sportsbook service, which offers a fantastic range of sports bets from markets and events all over the world. You can get more details of the site and starter bonus by following the link above.

Let’s now preview the fight before we bring you our tips on how we see it going, who will win, by what method and in what round.

Anthony Joshua v Kubrat Pulev Preview

Since Anthony Joshua regained his world titles with an impressive victory over David Ruiz in Saudi Arabia late in 2019, much of the speculation for 2020 has been about Joshua fighting the winner of the Deontay Wilder v Tyson Fury rematch. Fury was a very strong winner of that bout earlier this year and despite plenty of talk, it now seems that if Fury and Joshua are to cross paths, it will be in 2021 at the earliest before the two Heavyweight Champions meet to unify the division.

Ahead of that, Joshua now must make a mandatory defence of his IBF belt against their number one challenger, The Cobra Kubrat Pulev. The 39-year-old Bulgarian has had a relatively short professional career with just 29 fights, winning 28 although only half of those have come by knockout.

With all Joshua’s four belts on the line, the two men will battle it out at Wembley Arena on Saturday evening. Pulev with a chance to become a Heavyweight Champion against a man who he knows can be beaten, while Joshua is fighting not just to hold on to his belts, but to secure at least one, if not two megafights with Tyson Fury in 2021.

Let’s see how the two shape up as a comparison in the tale of the tape.

Tale of the Tape

Fighter’s History

The two were supposed to have fought back in 2017, but Pulev had to pull out from that bout with injury, The Bulgarian’s one blemish on his record came against Wladimir Klitschko, but he has notched up wins over Britain’s Dereck Chisora, Hughie Fury and American veterans Kevin Johnson and Tony Thompson in his career.

Joshua’s sole defeat is to Ruiz, which he avenged last December, but Joshua’s record is the more impressive of the two boasting wins over the likes of Dominic Breazeale, Alexander Povetkin, Wladimir Klitschko, Carlos Takam, Joseph Parker, Dillian Whyte, Charles Martin and Eric Molina.

The two have fought Matt Skelton (Pulev winning by a 4^th Round KO, Joshua by a 2^nd Round TKO) and Michael Sprott (Pulev winning in the 9^th when Sprott retired, Joshua knocking out Sprott in the first round). Pulev beat Kevin Johnson by a unanimous decision after 12 rounds, Joshua knocked him out in the second round. Both of course have also faced former champion Wladimir Klitschko, with Joshua winning his fight by TKO in the 11^th Round, Pulev losing his by knockout in the 5^th Round.

Boxing Styles

In his last fight, Joshua slimmed down to become a leaner, quicker fighter against Ruiz and it worked for him well as he clearly outpointed the Mexican fighter in that fight. He may elect to do the same against Pulev who is an older, heavier fighter who is very physical. Joshua’s height and reach advantage should also help him keep Pulev at bay, while the Bulgarian will probably try to get close to Joshua to unsettle him.

How do we see the fight going?

It was notable in his last fight that after being downed four times in his loss to David Ruiz, Joshua was much more respectful of the Mexican’s punching power and I can see him taking a similar approach here. He will try to keep Pulev at bay with a mix of jabs, good footwork and getting ‘on his bike’ around the ring. By picking up rounds in this way and tiring the Bulgarian, I think this will soften him up and Joshua can then take control of the fight and perhaps land the telling blows to claim the victory somewhere in the middle rounds.

However, he will also have to be very wary of Pulev’s charging attacks and heavy hands as if one of these lands, then Joshua could be in trouble. However, the same is true for Pulev as if he ends up on the end of one of Joshua’s cleaner shots, the Bulgarian could also be heading to the canvas earlier than expected.

Our Tips for Joshua v Pulev

Bet365 have Joshua as the 1/12 favourite to win the bout with Pulev a 6/1 outsider and while I think those odds are somewhat generous to Joshua, I do feel that the current champion does have the weapons to land the victory here. Pulev is big and strong, but his age counts against him and Joshua showed in his last fight he can win in different ways now, adding a further dimension to his weaponry at this elite level.

My gut feeling is that after working out Pulev’s tactics in the first three or four rounds, Joshua will win the fight in the middle rounds by a KO or TKO (which is a 4/11 chance with bet365).  My gut feeling is that this will last around six rounds and Joshua to win in the sixth is a 17/2 shot.

If the Brit does win then expect a quick announcement of a two-deal megafight for 2021 with WBC Champion Tyson Fury to hit the headlines and that could well be the. Biggest heavyweight battle for many years.