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Kubrat Pulev and Derek Chisora recently had a promotional face-off ahead of their bout at The O2 arena on July 9. The two heavyweight sloggers sat across from each other with promoter Eddie Hearn mediating the event in the middle.
Pulev sent a warning to his opponent, but assured Hearn that he wouldn't get caught in the crossfire:
“When I am here, don’t be scared. Only Derek is not safe.”
Watch the full face-off here:
In one amusing altercation in the face-off, Chisora told Pulev that he will knock him out. Pulev responded by asking, “Derek, do you smoke joints.” Both fighters spent the face-off saying that they would knock the other out come fight night.
Chisora claimed that he does not like easy fights and only wants to fight the best. The Brit maintained that no matter who he faces, he always goes "for war." According to Pulev, this is why Chisora has been defeated every time that he has fought a high-level opponent.
Both fighters are seemingly in the latter stages of their careers. Kubrat Pulev enters the bout as a favorite and has only lost twice to Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko.
Derek Chisora, on the other hand, has suffered 12 defeats. Chisora has lost his last three bouts, twice to Joseph Parker and once to Oleksandr Usyk. Despite his record, Chisora remains a big name in the UK due to his personality. In the past, he's spat on Vitali Klitschko and thrown a table at Dillian Whyte.
Kubrat Pulev and Derek Chisora have fought once before
The pair previously fought six years ago in Hamburg for the vacant EBU European Heavyweight Championship. On that occasion, Kubrat ‘The Cobra’ Pulev recorded a split decision vicotry over Derek ’Del Boy’ Chisora.
‘Del Boy’ was the aggressor in the first fight as he tried to nullify the height and reach advantage that ‘The Cobra’ possesses. Kubrat Pulev is three inches taller and has a five-inch reach advantage over his opponent. As Chisora tried to bring the fight to close quarters, he was constantly tagged by Pulev’s jab.
A clash of heads resulted in a cut over Pulev’s left eye, which seemed to energize the British fighter as he went on to have his best success of the fight. It was still not enough, though, as whenever Chisora moved into range, the Bulgarian clinched.
Pulev looked to be landing more punches than his opponent and the scorecards reflected that. Two judges scored the bout for Pulev, 118-110 and 116-112, while the third judge scored the contest 115-113 in Chisora's favor.
