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Anthony Joshua And Kubrat Pulev Trade Verbal Blows As Security Steps In During Heated Face-Off

Anthony Joshua And Kubrat Pulev Trade Verbal Blows As Security Steps In During Heated Face-Off

Kubrat Pulev will be Anthony Joshua's first title defence since the Brit recaptured his championship crown from Andy Ruiz Jr in 2019.

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz

Anthony Joshua and Kubrat Pulev traded a war of words during their face-off as security had to separate the heavyweights ahead of their world title fight.

'AJ,' 31, hasn't fought since he regained his championship status from Andy Ruiz Jr in their December 2019 rematch in Saudi Arabia.

And Joshua will make his first title defence post-Ruiz against IBF mandatory challenger Pulev on Saturday in London.

Both the two-time unified world champ and challenger took to the scales for their pre-match weigh-in.

Pulev, 39, hit the scales first and came in at 239.7lbs, while Joshua stepped up next and weighed in at 240.8lbs.

'AJ' weighed in 3.8lbs heavier than when he fought Ruiz in his unanimous decision victory at the Diriyah Arena.

However, there was no love lost between Joshua and Pulev during the subsequent face-off as both fighters traded verbal blows with one another.

The Brit superstar was spotted putting his hand on Pulev's shoulder and unleashing a flurry of words behind his face mask.

On-stage security eventually intervened and separated the pair, but that didn't stop Joshua or Pulev from continuing their exchange in words.

Joshua has insisted that his full priority is on beating Pulev on Saturday, despite being linked with a mega-unification clash with WBC champion Tyson Fury.

'AJ' told BBC Radio 5 Live: "When people ask questions about Fury, in the back of my head I'm thinking my focus is Pulev.

"What I've learned is I'm not going to bother entertaining it anymore.

"All the other conversations about future opponents can come the night after the fight."

Featured Image Credit: Matchroom Boxing

Topics: AJ, Kubrat Pulev, Boxing News, Anthony Joshua, Boxing

Adnan Riaz is a journalist for SPORTbible. He studied for a B.A. in History at the University of York and followed it up with an M.A. in Multimedia Journalism at MMU. Before he started writing about sports, he spent over four years in the gaming press. He has worked for several publications, including Hardcore Gamer, LADbible and the Manchester Evening News. Follow him on Twitter to find out what he is working on next. Got a story tip for Adnan? Email him: [email protected]

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