Kubrat Pulev explains why he kissed female reporter

By Sean Jones

Boxingnews24.com

Heavyweight Kubrat Pulev (27-1, 14 KOs) isn’t apologizing for kissing a female reporter on the lips after his seventh round stoppage win over Bogdan Dinu (18-2, 14 KOs) last Saturday night on ESPN at The Hanger in Costa Mesa, California.

In explaining the situation on social media, Pulev, 37, said the female reporter is a “friend” of his, and that they laughed about it after the interview was over.

The female reporter Jenny Susche of Vegas Sports Daily, said it was “embarrassing” and “strange” in describing being kissed by Pulev.

Jenny had just asked Pulev if he was interested in fighting Tyson Fury, and he said, “yes,” and then bent over and kissed her on the mouth and walked away. She then said, “Alright, thank you. Jesus Christ.”

The female reporter looked uncomfortable and appeared to be trying to collect herself moments after Pulev kissed her. Pulev says the two of them are “friends.” The reporter, Jenny, looked in shock after Pulev kissed her. At the interview was over at that point, and Pulev walked away.

Pulev made a statement on his Twitter, saying that he’s “friends” with the female reporter, and that he was excited about his victory and that’s why he kissed her.

According to ESPN, news media Vegas Sports Daily, who the female reporter works for, will investigate the incident.

The reaction from boxing fans on social media has been mixed. While some fans feel that what Pulev did in kissing the female reporter was out of line and the wrong thing to do, a lot of other fans think it’s not a big deal.

Pulev’s promoters at Top Rank plan on matching him against WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. Pulev is the World Boxing Organization mandatory challenger to the unbeaten Joshua after defeating Hughie Fury by a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision last October. Top Rank CEO Bob Arum says they want to force the Joshua fight, and that they don’t plan on making the Tyson Fury vs. Pulev fight. That’s not the one that Arum is interested in making at the moment. With Pulev being the WBO mandatory, it makes more sense for him to be matched against Joshua. If Pulev were to fight Fury, he would be risking his mandated title shot against Joshua, and that wouldn’t be a good idea. There would be too much to lose for Pulev in taking the fight with Fury, who doesn’t hold a major world title at this time. Fury is a “lineal heavyweight champion,” but that’s not considered to be the same thing as holding an actual world title belt.