Bob Arum says he and Tyson Fury are already planning for other opponents as they believe Kubrat Pulev will stun Anthony Joshua on Saturday night.
The 39-year-old Bulgarian, like Fury, is co-promoted by Arum’s Top Rank. He challenges for AJ’s IBF, WBA and WBO world heavyweight titles at London’s SSE Arena, Wembley.
Pulev (28-1) is a big underdog, with Joshua as short as 1/12 with the UK bookmakers. But Arum steadfastly believes his man will cause a shock – and ruin that Fury vs Joshua superfight planned for next summer.
Hall of Fame promoter Arum, who turned 89 this week, said: “Kubrat Pulev is a really rugged fighter. We were privileged to promote a number of his fights in the United States and because of his mandatory position in the IBF he was able to secure this fight with Anthony Joshua
Arum believes Pulev will KO Joshua
“Pulev went into very very serious training in Bulgaria. He is in the best condition of his career. And frankly I look for him not only to beat Anthony Joshua, but to knock him out He’s a big, rugged Bulgarian and I really feel that Joshua is vulnerable and that Pulev will not only beat him, but knock him out.
“I will greet that victory with the joy that it brings to me because I’ve become attached to Pulev. He’s a terrific guy. and it’s been a pleasure working with him.
“On the other hand, it will disappoint one of my other guys, the WBC champion Tyson Fury. Because Fury was looking forward, is looking forward, to fighting Joshua.”
“I talked to Tyson yesterday and we were already making plans for Tyson Fury to fight other fighters because Fury agrees with me. That there’s a great great chance that Pulev is gonna upset the applecart and beat Joshua. But that’s why they do the fights. They do the fights to see what happens in the ring.”
There has been criticism in some quarters of the pay-per-view pricing for this bout – Sky Sports Box Office will air it in the UK at a cost of £24.95. Streaming platform DAZN meanwhile will have the call in more than 200 countries around the world.
But Arum claimed: “I think without a question, whichever way the fight goes, it’s going to be a very entertaining fight. And certainly well worth the money that fight fans in the UK will be paying to watch it on pay-per-view.”
