British-Nigerian boxer, Anthony Joshua, knocked out Bulgarian boxer, Kubrat Pulev, in the ninth round of their world title bout at the SSE Arena, Wembley, to retain his WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight titles.
The fight is Joshua’s first since reclaiming his belts from Andy Ruiz in December 2019 in Saudi Arabia.
Bothe boxers were cautious in the first two rounds with Joshua using more of his jabs.
Pulev has been unbeaten in his last eight fights since losing via knockout to Wladimir Klitschko in 2014. The 39-year-old won 28 of his previous 29 with 14 by way of knockout.
South African referee Deon Dwarte stopped the fight after the ninth round knock down.
Joshua’s victory sets up a potential all-British heavyweight unification bout against Tyson Fury in 2021.
Both fighters come into the bout with one loss apiece. Joshua lost his only fight in a shocking defeat to Andy Ruiz in 2019 while Pulev’s only loss was a fifth round knockout loss in the hands of Wladimir Klitschko in 2014.
British-born boxer of Nigerian descent, Lawrence Okoli, also recorded a second round knockout win over Nikodem Jezewski to claim the vacant WBO International cruiserweight title.
Okolie knocked down his opponent twice in the first round, forcing the referee to call off the fight in the 1:45 minute after his second round knockdown of Jezewski.
Okolie is on course for a WBO cruiserweight title fight next year.
Meanwhile, Joshua has set up a potential all-British world heavyweight unification bout against Tyson Fury after knocking out Bulgaria’s Kubrat Pulev at London’s Wembley Arena on Saturday.
The much-anticipated clash with Fury is expected to take place in 2021.
In a post-match interview monitored by our correspondent, Joshua said he is determined to beat Fury to win the world heavyweight unification bout.
Joshua, who said his next target is Tyson Fury, expressed confidence in his boxing ability.
The Nigerian-British fighter added, “Whoever has got the belt, I want the belt. If that is Tyson Fury, let it be!”
When asked about Saturday’s match, he said, “Less talk, more action. I hope everyone was satisfied tonight.
“For me, I stuck to what I know best, boxing. You ask the crowd what they want to see!”
Joshua could have outclassed Pulev, who had lost just once previously in his career to Wladimir Klitschko in 2014, in the third rounds.
Joshua gave his opponent three successive uppercuts in the ninth round to take his career record to 24-1.
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn also confirmed that Fury is Joshua’s next target.
He said, “Starting from tomorrow, we make the Tyson Fury fight straight away. We know what we have to do. We know what we want to do.
“It’s about legacy.”
