By Keith Idec
If Kubrat Pulev pulls off an upset against Anthony Joshua on October 28, he has promised strangers in need will benefit from his success.
The Sun of London reported Wednesday that Pulev plans to donate half of his purse to charity if he beats Joshua in their heavyweight title fight at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. The Bulgarian contender is a 14-1 underdog against the huge British knockout artist, but could walk away from their mandated title fight with a ￡2 million purse ($2.67 million), according to The Sun.
“Day after day, the big battle in Cardiff is coming,” Pulev said. “If I win this [fight], I’ll donate half the money to charity causes. For orphanages or hospitals for life-saving and others, I’ll be happy to be a world champion.”
The 36-year-old Pulev (25-1, 13 KOs) is the mandatory challenger for Joshua’s IBF title. The 27-year-old Joshua (19-0, 19 KOs), a 2012 Olympic gold medalist from Watford, England, owns the IBO and WBA heavyweight championships as well.
The 6-feet-4, 250-pound Pulev has lost only to the recently retired Wladimir Klitschko, who knocked out Pulev in the fifth round of their November 2014 fight in Hamburg, Germany. Pulev is 5-0 (2 KOs) since Ukraine’s Klitschko beat him.
The 6-feet-6, 250-pound Joshua stopped Klitschko (64-5, 53 KOs) in the 11th round of his last fight, a back-and-forth slugfest in which Joshua overcame a sixth-round knockdown April 29 in London.
The Joshua-Klitschko clash drew a capacity crowd of roughly 90,000 to Wembley Stadium. More than 70,000 tickets already have been sold to the Joshua-Pulev bout.
Showtime will televise Joshua-Pulev live in the United States. It’ll air on pay-per-view in the United Kingdom (Sky Sports Box Office).
2023-10-19 16:15:51
