‘Anthony Joshua NOT an elite fighter, Kubrat Pulev will destroy him’ – Tyson Fury’s co-promoter Bob Arum dismisses unification fight

Legendary boxing promoter Bob Arum insists Anthony Joshua is not an elite fighter and expects Kubrat Pulev to demolish the Brit in June.

Pulev, the 38-year-old Bulgarian fighter, is lying in wait as the IBF’s mandatory challenger for Joshua, who won back his WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO titles with a convincing points victory over Andy Ruiz Jr in December.

2

AJ was forced into a rematch with Ruiz following his shock defeat six months prior to that - and Arum, who promotes for Pulev, insists that exposed Joshua's true quality as a heavyweight.

"Nobody who gets knocked out by Andy Ruiz is an elite fighter," he told talkSPORT's Adam Catterall.

"Anthony Joshua is fighting Kubrat Pulev in June and Pulev will knock Joshua out easier than Ruiz did.

"I promoted the vast majority of Andy Ruiz's fights and he's an ordinary heavyweight, maybe a little bit better than the average, but that's all he is.

"To get knocked out by the likes of Andy Ruiz means that he [Joshua] is not elite.

2

"Before the Ruiz fight, you could have argued that he was elite, but you can't argue that anymore.

"That's the truth, and all the nonsense that comes from Eddie Hearn isn't going to change that."

Arum, 89, was speaking as part of Tyson Fury's team in Las Vegas ahead of the Deontay Wilder rematch on Saturday - which is LIVE on talkSPORT.

Joshua is yet to mix it with Fury or Wilder, one of whom will hold the WBC title after their rematch, the belt AJ needs to unify the division.

And he looks set to wait even longer for a unification fight after it was revealed that Fury and Wilder have already agreed terms for a third fight after their rematch.