Kubrat Venkov Pulev (Кубрат Венков Пулев; born 4 May 1981) is a Bulgarian professional boxer.
2002
In February 2002, Pulev won the Strandzha Cup in his native Bulgaria.
Pulev, who is nicknamed "The Cobra", beat Cuban world champion Odlanier Solís in the process.
One month later, he lost a rematch to the Cuban at the semifinal of the Chemiepokal Cup.
He could not participate at the Euros 2002 in Perm after breaking his arm in sparring.
2003
At the World Championships 2003, he lost again in the first round to Odlanier Solís 7:12.
2004
At the European boxing championships 2004 in Pula, he defeated world class Alexander Povernov (World Championships Bronze medalist 2005).
Pulev did not qualify for the Olympics despite the fact that he won the last qualifying tournament in Gothenburg.
He had to settle for the first reserve place because the heavyweight division consists of only 16 fighters participating in the Olympic Games.
2005
Pulev beat Islam Timurziev at super-heavyweight at the Strandja Cup 2005.
At the EU Championships he lost the final 18:24 to Italian southpaw Roberto Cammarelle.
At the 2005 World Amateur Boxing Championships he won bronze, losing for the third time to Odlanier Solís 11:25.
2006
In 2006, at the Chemiepokal he beat Vyacheslav Glazkov and Magomed Abdusalamov.
He finished at third place at the European Championships in Plovdiv.
After defeating Glazkov again he was easily beaten (RSCO) by former victim and eventual winner, Islam Timurziev of Russia.
2007
In 2007.
he won the Chemiepokal tournament and was regarded as one of the favorites at the 2007 World Amateur Boxing Championships, but had a bad draw and lost early to southpaw Olympic bronze medalist and eventual winner Roberto Cammarelle.
2008
As an amateur, he won multiple medals at international tournaments, including gold at the 2008 European Championships and bronze at the 2005 World Championships, all in the super-heavyweight division.
He also represented Bulgaria at the 2008 Olympics.
In 2008, he won the Strandja Cup once again beating PanAm Champion Robert Alfonso 19:9.
He beat Jaroslavas Jakšto and Marko Tomasović to qualify for the Olympics 2008.
There he was upset in his first bout by young Colombian Óscar Rivas.
In absence of Roberto Cammarelle, he beat Marko Tomasović, Roman Kapitonenko and Denis Sergeev to claim the European Championship.
2009
At the 2009 World Amateur Boxing Championships he lost again to Roberto Cammarelle.
Pulev turned professional, at the age of 28, in September 2009 at the Jahnsportforum in Neubrandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.
He defeated Florian Benche via 2nd-round technical knockout.
Pulev fought another three times in the next three months, winning them all.
He ended his first professional year with 4 wins and no losses.
2011
He was ranked by BoxRec in the world's top 10 heavyweights in every year from 2011 to 2018.
Pulev and his trainer Otto Ramin expected a tough fight although Dimitrenko had not fought since September 2011.
Pulev was outweighed by 12 pounds at the weigh in, coming in at 245 pounds.
Dimitrenko started the fight well, using his height and reach to his advantage.
He also moved well on his feet to avoid punishment.
In round 4, Pulev began to find his range and began countering and landing some power punch combinations of his own, rocking Dimitrenko at times.
2012
At regional level, he has held multiple heavyweight championships, including the European title twice between 2012 and 2016.
Pulev got his first title opportunity when it was announced in March 2012 he would fight Alexander Dimitrenko (32–1, 21 KOs) on the Marco Huck vs. Ola Afolabi WBO cruiserweight championship undercard on 5 May in Erfurt, Germany for the vacant EBU European Heavyweight Championship.
Many observers were giving both fighters an even chance to win, and expected the winner of this bout to fight for the title in the near future.
Some observers expected the fight to bring Dimitrenko back into the title contention.
2014
He has challenged twice for the unified heavyweight title in 2014 and 2020.
2020
As of December 2020, he is ranked as the world's tenth best active heavyweight by The Ring magazine, and ninth by the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board.
