Klitschko vs. Pulev Results from Hamburg, Germany:
Maybe Wladimir Klitschko showed up biggest for what was touted as his toughest fight and opponent in years. Or maybe Kubrat Pulev never was anything resembling what he was cracked up to be prior to the bout. In either case, Klitschko utterly dominated Pulev Saturday night in Hamburg, Germany, sending his legions of fans in the packed arena into a frenzy with a vicious 5th Round knockout win.
As the fight began, so did the clinching, with Pulev looking to rough up Klitschko on the inside, and Klitschko looking to shut down his attack. Pulev didn’t look like he would be pushed around or easily deterred.
And just like that, a short little left hook tagged him and sent him down to the canvas. He quickly got up, and even showboated that he wasn’t hurt, standing on one leg and calling for more. Klitschko brought more immediately, and sent him down with a second left hook. Pulev survived the round, and began keeping his distance more in the 2nd session, holding his hands out far in front of his face, looking to parry Klitschko shots and launch counters around them.
That bought him some time, but in Round 3, Klitschko landed a monster right hand that sent Pulev reeling. He managed to stay on his feet, with his left eye now bloodied, but Klitschko followed up with yet another left hook, and a push. It looked like the push should have negated the knockdown, but it was ruled officially as the third of the fight.
Pulev looked to make things rough again in the 4th, and began doing some effective work. He was actually appearing to recover from the knockdowns fairly well. In Round 5, he landed his best punch of the fight, a right hand which Klitschko clearly felt.
The problem for Pulev was that Wladimir’s response to being hit wasn’t to crumble or fade, but instead to tag him with that same punch, the familiar left hook Pulev will surely have nightmares about for the rest of his life, one more time, sending him careening to the canvas flat on his back, and ending the fight via 5th round KO for Klitschko.
After the fight, Pulev, now with both eyes swollen and bloodied, looked shell-shocked — he really didn’t even grasp what he had just happened to him, or what he was up against. As for Klitschko, after another dominant, one-sided affair in a decade filled with them, he remains the king atop the mountain. Try to climb it at your own peril.
