Anthony Joshua sparring with Wladimir Klitschko to get him ready for Kubrat Pulev fight

joshua552012 super heavyweight gold medalist Anthony Joshua is in Austria sparring with IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (62-3, 52 KOs) to get him ready for his fight next month against unbeaten #1 IBF Kubrat Pulev (20-0, 11 KOs) at the O2 World Arena in Hamburg, Germany.

Joshua will be at the Klitschko camp for 10 days of sparring, which should help both fighters improve. This is great for Joshua because he gets to improve his game while at the same time seeing how far apart he is with Wladimir in terms of talent.

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Wladimir Klitschko faces tough test in Kubrat Pulev on September 6th

Wladimir Klitschko faces tough test in Kubrat Pulev on September 6th

In what is easily the toughest test since his fight against former WBA champ David Haye in 2011, IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (62-3, 52 KOs) will be putting his belts on the line against #1 IBF Kubrat Pulev (20-0, 11 KOs) next month on September 6th at the O2 World Arena, Altona, in Hamburg, Germany.

Pulev, 6’4 ½”, matches up well with the 6’6” Wladimir in terms of size and his ability to jab with power. Wladimir has a slight height advantage of a little less than two inches, but they’re both basically the same in the jab department.

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Deontay Wilder stops Gavern, wants Klitschko after Stiverne fight

Deontay Wilder stops Gavern, wants Klitschko after Stiverne fight

#1 WBC heavyweight contender Deontay Wilder (32-0, 32 KOs) stopped 37-year-old Jason Gavern (25-17-3, 11 KOs), in the 4th round last Saturday night at the StubHub Center, in Carson, California.

Deontay knocked Gavern down twice in the fight with chopping right hands in dropping him in the 3rd and 4th rounds. Gavern, who reportedly owns his own landscaping business, decided not to come out for the 5th round.

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Shannon Briggs threatens Wladimir: Team Klitschko adds extra Security

Shannon Briggs threatens Wladimir: Team Klitschko adds extra Security

It has been a little over a week since Shannon Briggs stormed into a restaurant where Wladimir Klitschko was having a meal, and took it took far with his antics, eating Wladimir’s food and promising to follow him everywhere he goes. This must have been that very last straw, because this time, even though calm and composed, Klitschko poured a glass of water over Shannon’s head, sending Briggs into a frenzy, resulting in broken glassware and cuts.

Clearly this incident did nothing to settle the situation, as Briggs is back on Wladimir’s back, threatening more action: “As soon as I see you, I will hot you in the face. Your fat security guard approached me from the back and grabbed me. That’s cool. I even cut my foot on your glass jaw. Nobody cares about your fight against Pulev, while the entire world is talking about us. Let’s do this!” said Briggs.

“This was 100% real, not staged,” added Briggs about that restaurant brawl.

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Shannon Briggs doing a great job of creating interest in Wladimir Klitschko fight

Shannon Briggs doing a great job of creating interest in Wladimir Klitschko fight

Thus far, IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko has missed out on the mega-fights that we saw from former champions like Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis. But that could change with the hype that 42-year-old Shannon Briggs is singlehandedly creating by following Wladimir Klitschko around the globe and getting in his face at every opportunity to force him to fight him.

Briggs has been ignored by Klitschko so far, but Briggs doesn’t care about that. He plans on continuing his one-man campaign to get the fight with the Ukrainian fighter. While it may not be working for Briggs right now, he’s steadily building interest in fight between him and Wladimir Klitschko in Germany.

The fans over in Germany are being bombarded constant news about Briggs’ confrontations with Klitschko. At this point a fight between Briggs and Wladimir Klitschko would likely be the biggest match of his career. That’s unfortunately more of an indication of the lack of interesting opponents that Wladimir has had than an endorsement of Briggs. Klitschko has faced largely unknown fighters or guys that were played out by the time he did face them.

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Wladimir Klitschko and Kubrat Pulev sell out the O2 Arena in Hamburg, Germany

Wladimir Klitschko and Kubrat Pulev sell out the O2 Arena in Hamburg, Germany

There are no more regular seats available for the IBF heavyweight title fight on Sep. 6 at the O2 World Hamburg. Kubrat Pulev said he tried to buy tickets for friends recently and he couldn’t, he contacted K2 promotions and found out he might find separate seats if he used a German IP address and checked regularly for availability. Those seats would be either lowest price that do not offer a good view or highest price (unreasonably expensive). Pulev himself was promised “one or two” free tickets, so he is not getting a lot of compliments from Klitschko and company.

The unbeaten Bulgarian knows he is a mandatory challenger per se, that is Wladimir Klitschko clearly does not want the fight and is only complying with an obligation. This is not a big money event for K2 while for Pulev this would be a career defining fight and his biggest payday. K2 promotions are handling the event and Kubrat Pulev is just a participant, and opponent that brings some intrigue and his 0 into the contest but not too much revenue.

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Pulev wants drug testing down for Wladimir fight

Pulev wants drug testing down for Wladimir fight

Unbeaten challenger Kubrat Pulev (20-0, 11 KO’s) reportedly wants testing done in the run up to his September 6th title challenge against IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (62-3, 52 KO’s) at the O2 World Arena, in Hamburg, Germany. Pulev, 33, doesn’t say why he wants the testing done, because there already is testing done for the fight. Having extra testing done might seem like overkill and a waste of money.

Pulev said, “I’m checked for doping at least six times a year during training. Should always be available and communicate where I was staying and where I am at any time. Why not apply to Wladimir Klitschko? Thus it would be fair.”

Pulev, as the challenger, is hardly in the position to get his way in terms of extra drug testing. He can ask for it, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.

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Pulev: I will get Wladimir’s titles and replace him as World champion

Pulev: I will get Wladimir’s titles and replace him as World champion

Bulgarian heavyweight Kubrat Pulev (20-0, 11 KO’s) believes that he’s got the talent to beat IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (62-3, 52 KO’s) and take away all of his 4 world titles in their fight on September 6th at the O2 World Arena, Altona, in Hamburg, Germany.

While the 33-year-old Pulev hasn’t fought anyone good enough to give you any kind of indication that he’ll be able to beat Wladimir, he still comes across like someone who is dead certain that he’s going to be victorious over the 38-year-old Ukrainian.

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Hey Floyd, Manny! Remember when Wladimir Klitschko called out David Haye on YouTube?

Hey Floyd, Manny! Remember when Wladimir Klitschko called out David Haye on YouTube?

Remember when heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko called out David Haye in a YouTube video? You remember David Haye, right? He was the polite-sounding, trash-talking, loud-mouth, who was packing a glass toe, and literally talked himself into the heavyweight spotlight without really doing much of anything to actually earn it. Sure, Haye picked up an ABC strap when he squeaked by Nikolai Valuev with an uneventful majority decision victory over the faded aging behemoth. But even before that happened, Haye had already talked himself into title contention by using nothing more than his big loud mouth. It was brilliant! An amazing demonstration of successful self-promotion, the likes of which hasn’t been matched by any other boxer in recent years. And it worked too, even if he did bail out of fights with each Klitschko brother before targeting easier prey in Valuev, for his silly alphabet title trinket that few true fight fans even recognized. It was genius on the part of Haye.

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Wladimir Klitschko: Kubrat Pulev is “too raw and green behind the ears”

Wladimir Klitschko: Kubrat Pulev is “too raw and green behind the ears”

Wladimir Klitschko has his sights set on Bermane Stiverne who emerged as the new WBC champion after he sent Cristobal Arreola home early last Saturday. Klitschko is craving to unify the championship and reclaim the trophy his big brother Vitali relinquished and there may not be anyone to stop him.

There are formalities he needs to deal with before the unification and one of them is Deontay Wilder’s WBC mandatory challenger position. Even Bermane Stiverne would be a huge step up in class for Wilder and the winner would eventually have to fight Wladimir Klitschko. Mandatory status or not, Deontay Wilder might do what is in his best interest – avoid Wlad and hope he hangs them up soon. His initial step aside demand was reportedly unreasonable but he has not ruled this option out. One would expect a confident KO machine to go for the title full throttle and treat any distractions with contempt but the heavyweight circus is on the road again.

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