Two-time world heavyweight title challenger Kubrat Pulev (32-3, 14 KOs) finally won his first major title with a 12-round unanimous decision win over WBA ‘regular’ champion Mahmoud Char (34-5, 20 KOs) on Saturday night in Areni Sofia in Sofia, Bulgaria.
A one-sided affair
The 43-year-old Pulev showed his excellent amateur pedigree, using his jab and wide jabs to batter the rusty Charr in every round of the fight. It was sheer dominance by 2008 Olympian Pulev, who still has his skills intact.
Charr took a lot of punishment in this fight and looked beaten around the face by the tenth round. He looked like he had gone through a rough trial taking all the hard shots from Pulev as well as the beautiful shots. Pulev, 6’5″, has always had outstanding jazz, and still does. He used it as a power shot tonight, nailing Charr multiple times.
Results
– 117-111
– 117-111
– 116-112
Char made the mistake of using Pulev as his first opponent after a two-year hiatus, and in retrospect, he should have gone for the easier one.
It will be interesting to see if Pulev can transform his ‘regular’ WBA heavyweight title into a big fight against the winner of the Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk rematch. It would be a dream come true because the money would be nice for Pulev. A matchup against Jake Paul would also be great.
