Anthony Joshua put on an impressive performance as he knocked out Kubrat Pulev in the ninth round.
Anthony Joshua (24-1, 22 KOs) retained his WBO, WBA, IBF and IBO heavyweight titles as he dominated Kubrat Pulev (28-2, 14 KOs) to win by ninth-round stoppage.
Both men started the fight feeling each other out in the centre of the ring. Little action took place in the first round with Joshua establishing his jab whilst Pulev was not throwing many shots at all.
Joshua landed a right hand in the third round that Pulev walked straight into. For the rest of the round Joshua unleashed a barrage of punches, with Pulev turning his back forcing a standing count from the referee. Pulev did well to survive the heavy shots from “AJ” but was knocked down by an uppercut towards the end of the round. The Bulgarian beat the count and was saved by the bell.
Joshua was taking virtually no damage as he continued to land power punches through the guard of Pulev. As the fight went on Pulev started to look better, making the fight dirty by landing rabbit punches to the back of Joshua’s head in the clinch. In the eighth round, Pulev landed a solid right hand that landed on the chin of Joshua.
In the ninth round, Joshua was landing some hard uppercuts but somehow Pulev weathered through. Another hard uppercut got through Pulev’s guard and staggered the Bulgarian. and he went down after a few more shots from Joshua. Although he beat the count,Joshua landed a right hand as both men met in the middle and the fight was over after Pulev failed to beat the ten-count.
Official result: Anthony Joshua def. Kubrat Pulev via KO, round nine 2:58