Anthony Joshua vs Kubrat Pulev, venue to be decided

The fight between Anthony Joshua and Kubrat Pulev, scheduled on 12 December, may have a change of venue. Currently, the bout is expected to take place at the O2 Arena in London.

However, the uncertainty caused by the covid-19 pandemic and the related restrictive measures implemented by the U.K. Government are causing issues to the promoters. Eddie Hearn, in a recent interview, mentioned that he would like to bring in to the O2 Arena a crowd of 4700 people to attend the fight. The O2 Arena has a total capacity of approximately 20,000 people and the promoter’s idea is to fill in 25% of the available seats. However, the United Kingdom will be in lock-down until the 2nd December with a high probability of those measure to be extended. In this scenario, no attendance would be allowed.

As a result, Eddie Hearn would consider moving the fight to the SSE Arena in the Wembley Stadium compound since this facility is already set for similar events already planned in November or December. In other words, while the SSE Arena is ready-to-go, the O2 Arena needs fitting and preparation in order to guarantee social distancing and implement anti-covid measures. As a result, the latter could be used as venue only in case of physical attendance of fans. “We haven’t given up on the O2” Hearn said.

Anthony Joshua (23-1, 21 KOs) shall defend his WBA, WBO, IBO, and, IBF title against Kubrat Pulev (28-1, 14 KOs), nicknamed the “Beast”. Despite Anthony Joshua is the favorite, the Bulgarian fighter could be a dangerous opponent if approached with the wrong strategy. After losing again Andy Ruiz due to the wrong approach, Joshua will certainly need to consider this aspect also against Pulev to avoid another shocking result. However, we will provide you with our predictions in due course. Stay tuned.