Headlines
I cooked a Cobra – Anthony Joshua declared after Wembley victory
BY NICHOLAS ABE
World boxing heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua knocked out Bulgarian Pulev near the end of the ninth round on Saturday to retain his IBF, WBO and WBA belts.
Joshua, after his win, took to his Twitter handle to celebrate the victory.
“Cooked a Cobra,” the 31-year-old Nigerian-born Briton tweeted.
Joshua was close to winning the fight much earlier when he floored Pulev in the third round after a sweet right hand at the Wembley Arena in London.
But the challenger recovered to test the home favourite in front of a limited crowd of 1,000.
Pulev, 39, remained dangerous, without causing Joshua many anxious moments, but there was no escape in the ninth round.
Joshua landed a clubbing right upper-cut which sent Pulev to the canvas.
READ: Anthony Joshua in self-isolation after meeting Prince Charles
The Bulgarian got back to his feet but Joshua connected with another huge right hand to end the contest.
Anthony Joshua’s victory sets up a potential all-British heavyweight unification bout against Tyson Fury in 2021.
Yet another British boxer of Nigerian descent, Lawrence Okoli, also recorded a second-round knockout win over Nikodem Jezewski, to claim the vacant WBO International cruiserweight title.
Okolie knocked down his opponent twice in the first round, forcing the referee to call off the fight in the 1:45 minute after his second-round knockdown of Jezewski.
Okolie is on course for a WBO cruiserweight title fight next year.