IBF mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev (20-0, 11 KOs) got some bad news on Monday about his opponent IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (62-3, 52 KOs) suffering an injury to his left biceps while training.
There fight, originally scheduled for September 6th, has been moved back tentatively to November sometime at the O2 World Arena in Hamburg, Germany. The date of the fight depends on how quickly Wladimir’s bicep tear heals. We are talking about a 38-year-old man, so it’s possible that it could need more time than November if the healing is slow.
“God sees and doesn’t forget,” Pulev was quoted by Fightnews.com per Bulgarian newspaper Presa. “I am trying to keep calm and to keep the good manners. I was ready and couldn’t wait for the fight. Now I will clench my teeth, because there isn’t a force to stop me finishing what I started.”
Pulev needs to stay calm. He’s got at least three months before he’s going to get in the ring with Wladimir. He needs to see it as a positive thing, because Pulev can now work more on his power. He’s going to need some power if he’s to beat Wladimir, because just jabbing isn’t going to do the job.
Pulev’s right hand is little more than a slapping shot for some strange reason. It’s unclear whether there’s a problem with the way he throws or whether he just lacks power the muscle strength to throw with the kind of power he needs to. Pulev does seem to have good power when throwing to the body, but unfortunately that’s probably not going to help him against Wladimir because he fights on the outside rather than the inside.
If Pulev tries to throw a body shot from long range, he’s going to be nailed by Wladimir and put on his back. Pulev would be wise not to try and throw any body shots against Wladimir when they do meet.
It’s still kind of a mystery how good Pulev is. His promoters at Sauerland Events has matched him very carefully and not put him in with guys that could really test him. We do know that 42-year-old Tony Thompson dominated Pulev for the first 4 rounds of their fight in 2013 until Thompson ran out of gas and got outworked in the 2nd half of the fight. It didn’t look good that Pulev had so many problems against Thompson, because this is a guy Wladimir easily beat in 2012.
