Kubrat Pulev 95 percent certain Dillian Whyte fight staged in Bulgaria

Boxingnews24.com

By Scott Gilfoid

Kubrat Pulev is convinced his IBF heavyweight title eliminator fight against #4 IBF Dillian ‘The Body Snatcher’ Whyte will be taking place in his home country of Bulgaria this year rather than in the UK. A possible date for the Pulev vs. Whyte fight is on August 18 in Sofia, Bulgaria.

The 37-year-old Pulev is a big star in Bulgaria, and he would be able to bring in a huge amount of his boxing fans for a fight against Whyte (23-1, 17 KOs) if he can get the match to take place over there. The winner of the Whyte vs. Pulev fight will be the IBF mandatory challenger to IBF belt holder Anthony Joshua.

”It is 95 percent sure that this game (against Whyte) will be held in Bulgaria,” Pulev said on his Facebook site. ”For me, it is most important to be able to make Bulgarian people happy, and such an event can really remain in history. There’ll be a real and incredible atmosphere,” Pulev added.

The management for Pulev and Whyte are still busy negotiating the fight. The International Boxing Federation has ordered the fight. Whyte, 30, initially seemed uncertain whether he would go that route in taking on Pulev, because he has the chance to fight for the WBC mandatory position by fighting the talented Cuban Luis ‘King Kong’ Ortiz. However, this would be a very hard fight for Whyte, and it would only be for the secondary WBC mandatory.

If the 6’4 ½” Pulev gets his way with the IBF title eliminator taking place in Sofia, Bulgaria, it would be a lot of stress on Whyte to fight in front of a boxing crowd that isn’t supporting him for a change. Whyte has never been a road warrior during his 7-year career the way that IBF super middleweight champion James ‘Chunky’ DeGale has been forced to be. DeGale had adapted well in fighting in unfamiliar environments and has excelled at winning and then defending his IBF title. It’ll be interesting to see if Whyte can do the same, as he’s been in the UK his entire career without once venturing away from home. When Whyte was pushing hard for a title fight against World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Deontay ‘Bronze Bomber’ Wilder, he wanted the fight to take place in London, England rather than fighting in the champ’s home country of the U.S. Does that mean Whyte is spoiled or does it mean he’s afraid of fighting out of his comfort zone? You be the judge of that.

”The match will be staged (at a place) where as many people as possible can go and see it,” Pulev said.

It sounds like a great situation for both fighters to have it take place in front of the largest crowd possible in Bulgaria. If the objective is to make as much money as possible, then Whyte should be pleased at fighting Pulev in Bulgaria. Of course, if Whyte balks at the idea of fighting in Pulev in Bulgaria, then he can always go the WBC route to become the mandatory, but that would mean that he would need to face Luis Ortiz next. With the bellyaching Whyte did after learning he would need to fight Ortiz to become the WBC mandatory, I’m not sure that he fancies going that route.

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