British-Nigerian boxer Anthony Joshua has retained his WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight titles after knocking out Bulgarian boxer Kubrat Pulev on Saturday night in the ninth round of their world title bout at the SSE Arena, Wembley.
The fight is Joshua’s first since reclaiming his belts from Andy Ruiz in December 2019 in Saudi Arabia.
Joshua’s victory sets up a potential all-British heavyweight unification bout against Tyson Fury in 2021.
Pulev had been unbeaten in his last eight fights since losing via knockout to Wladimir Klitschko in 2014. The 39-year-old won 28 of his previous 29 with 14 by way of knockout.
Celebrating his victory, Joshua tweeted: “We don’t have to prove anything to no one but ourselves.”
Also, British-born boxer of Nigerian descent Lawrence Okoli 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.
