Pulev: I’ll exploit AJ’s weaknesses

KUBRAT PULEV is convinced Anthony Joshua is still vulnerable to the weaknesses that were brutally exposed by Andy Ruiz Jnr last year. Joshua (below) was dropped four times by the American in suffering his first professional defeat before beating him on points in the rematch last December. That second fight saw a change to a far more conservative style by Joshua, but Pulev — who challenges for the Brit’s IBF, WBA, WBO and IBO world titles at Wembley Arena on Saturday — sees ‘a lot of bad sides’ in the champion’s defence. ‘We see a lot of mistakes from Anthony,’ said Pulev, 39. ‘There are a lot of bad sides to him. I think these mistakes, and the bad sides, stay. ‘The most important thing is how I perform on Saturday night. When I am good, I beat him well. Right now I feel very good, strong and powerful. I am very strong heading into this fight.’ The Bulgarian, whose only defeat in 29 fights was a stoppage loss against Wladimir Klitschko six years ago, added: ‘I think after this fight I’m going to fight with Tyson Fury. I don’t believe that the Joshua v Fury fight is going to happen because I will win on Saturday night. ‘I think the world needs a new world champion like me. I am coming.’ Of course, the Joshua and Fury saga is the rumbling undertone to this weekend’s fight, which is being touted as the last before the two Brits clash in two bouts for the undisputed heavyweight title. The finer points of those fights have not yet been agreed, beyond the acceptance on each side that the purses are split 50-50 and that the first is expected for May or early June. The key factor in determining the size of those paydays will be the country in which the bouts are held, and although Joshua said last week he would be willing to take a cut for it to be in the UK, realism makes it likely that at least one will be abroad. Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn has disclosed that a fight in a wealthy foreign state would be approximately twice as lucrative to Joshua and Fury as one over here owing to the site fees elsewhere, and the indication therefore is that the mould-busting first fight could be the one that goes abroad. Hearn, who also confirmed any fight in the UK would need to take place amid no restrictions on crowd size, said: ‘If you ask both fighters and both promotional companies where they’d prefer that fight to take place, everybody would say London. So if there’s a way to do it then great. ‘But we’re not in the same situation as many countries which have a significant budget to bring major sporting events to cities or to countries. One of those fights, in my opinion, must take place in the UK. I’m a strong believer in that.’