By Vadim Pushkin

Arena Armeec in Sofia, Bulgaria - Top rated heavyweight contender Kubrat Pulev (24-1, 13 KOs) had an easy night's work in stopping former WBC heavyweight world champion Samuel Peter (36-5, 29 KOs) in four rounds.

Peter, who weighed in at 271-pounds, was not in the best of shape for the contest. He weighed 10 pounds less for a comeback fight which took plae less than two months ago. Pulev was sharper, stronger and too much for the Peter - and found it easy to land accurate hard punches when he let his hands go.

Pulev is ranked at number 2 under the IBF and stands in position for a mandatory shot at the sanctioning body's heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (17-0, 17 KOs), who returns on December 10th in the Manchester Arena against Eric Molina.

36-year-old Peter snuck in a ring return on October 23rd in Tijuana, Mexico. As part of a small event, Peter stopped Juan Carlos Salas (6-10) in three rounds.

It was Peter's first fight since September of 2014, when he stopped Ron Augrey in the first round. And the fourth time that Peter has fought in Mexico. He captured the WBC title in Mexico, when he knocked out Oleg Maskaev in 2008, and then he fought twice in Mexico in 2009.

Peter's reign as champion didn't last long. He was stopped in eight rounds later that same year by a returning Vitali Klitschko. Peter then lost his following fight, in a bit of an upset at the time, by way of a majority decision to Eddie Chambers. He then picked up four easy wins, before suffering back to back knockout defeats - both in Germany - to Wladimir Klitschko and Robert Helenius.

For his ring return, Peter weighed in at 261.5-pounds. That was the third highest weight of his career, but it was 30 pounds less than his last fight two years ago, when he came in at 291. He weighed 265 when he lost against Chambers in 2009. Peter fought at his best, as seen in his first fight with Wladimir Klitschko and the rematch with James Toney, when he weighed in within the 240s.

For Pulev, this was his first fight since winning a twelve round split decision over Dereck Chisora back in May.