In The 9th Round, Anthony Joshua Knocks Kubrat Pulev Out, To Retain Title

Anthony Joshua defeated Bulgaria’s Kubrat Pulev by a knockout in the ninth round in the early hours of Sunday, 12 December, to retain his three world heavyweight championship belts in a title defense after a year away.

In a rematch against Andy Ruiz Jr. last December in Saudi Arabia, Joshua reclaimed the WBA, WBO, and IBF titles, after being stopped by the Mexican-American in an upset at Madison Square Garden that summer.

The first round saw both pugilists with plenty of single blows, though neither of them really managed to get something special in but Joshua had the snappier jab. Incredible scenes in the third round saw Pulev barely survive an enormous AJ attack.

Although the Bulgarian came out more active in the third round than in the first two rounds, Joshua landed a one-two for the first significant shot of the round.

Then to compliment his overhand rights, Joshua landed uppercut after uppercut, and Pulev was barely able to survive.

Joshua won his 22nd knock-out against Pulev, taking his bout record to 24-1, 22 KOs.