Dillian Whyte vs. Kubrat Pulev - IBF Eliminator is Ordered

Promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom has confirmed that Dillian Whyte has been ordered to fight Kubrat Pulev in a final heavyweight eliminator under the International Boxing Federation (IBF).
Whyte is already in the top rated position under the World Boxing Council, but the sanctioning body has yet to order him to fight current WBC world champion Deontay Wilder.
The IBF's champion is Anthony Joshua (21-0, 20 KOs), who also holds the IBO, WBA and WBO titles. This past weekend he defeat Joseph Parker to unify the four titles.


The fact that the IBF has ordered Whyte and Pulev to collide would indicate that Wilder may indeed face Dominic Breazeale, as BoxingScene.com reported earlier today. Breazeale was previously ordered to face Pulev in a final eliminator, and the fact Whyte was ordered in would indicate that Breazeale has declined the invitation to participate.
Pulev was scheduled to face Joshua last October, but withdrew with a should injury. He was replaced by Carlos Takam, who was stopped in the tenth round.
Pulev (25-1, 13 KOs) has been out of the ring since winning a twelve round decision over veteran Kevin Johnson last April. His sole career defeat came at the hands of Wladimir Klitschko in 2014. He's won five straight, including victories over Dereck Chisora and Sam Peter.
Whyte (23-1, 17 KOs) has won seven fights in a row since losing his only career bout, which was a seventh round stoppage at the hands of Joshua in December of 2015.
He was in action two weeks ago at the O2 Arena in London, and scored a brutal sixth round knockout victory over former WBA champion Lucas Browne.
Whyte was ringside last Saturday night in Cardiff, and watched Alexander Povetkin pull off a brutal knockout of his own over David Price. Povetkin is the WBA, WBO mandatory challenger. After that contest, Whyte called for a June fight with the Russian Olympian.

That would be interesting, I think pulev and Whyte are both pretty good and this could go either way. Maybe I'm wrong or a crapped judge but I thought pulev handled chisora pretty easily, and pulev is the sort of fellow who likes to play rough too, I can see him agitating Whyte a lot in this fight.... Pulev has a weird style though... Leans back with a weird cat like stance, seems very open to a good left hook, (wladimir couldn't miss with it :S) and he doesn't get a lot of power on his punches. Whyte has a ton of momentum right now though and a lot of confidence, this would be a really good contest that could go either way, I'm backing pulev on points though.

Don't see the point of Wilder v breazele, wasn't he already flattened by Joshua and not done a huge amount since(I think koing Mansour and the Nigerian polish fellow), meh who cares at least pick a filler opponent who hasn't been squashed already.

Decent enough but seems like a step sideways with Whyte already mandatory and Wilder basically facing AJ recycled. Baby Huey Jarrell Miller also in title 'eliminator' where he and Whyte off wins are top guys. Unless anyone wants to see Whyte v AJ II?

Whyte should take on Povetkin, I think that fight is better suited for him.

Pulev is more awkward and difficult to get to for Whyte.

Wilder v Breazele will be a difficult sell after what AJ did to him.

Whyte sure does have it tough, Wilder ducked him so now he gets Povetkin or Pulev. He seems the only fighter from Britain/US (barring AJ) prepared to fight anyone.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Fenster

Whyte sure does have it tough, Wilder ducked him so now he gets Povetkin or Pulev. He seems the only fighter from Britain/US (barring AJ) prepared to fight anyone.

---

We don't know if he is prepared to fight Pulev, he's been mandated to. Whyte has a lot of confidence at the moment and good luck to him. But imho Povetkin and Pulev are both very tough fights for him. Good luck to him as I agree he's not getting it easy. in fact, you could say that he's being made to fight harder fights than the champions!! I reckon Povetkin and Pulev are both tougher than Miller and Brezeale.