Pulev grabbed a lead in the early rounds when he appeared to hurt Chisora with heavy one-two combinations and in the fifth it seemed as if Chisora was ready to go. But he wasn´t and came back in the sixth and found his rhythm where he made Pulev miss and made him pay with his heavy right hand .

Referee Manuel Oliver Palomo from Spain had his work cut out as Pulev avoided in-fighting and tried to smother his opponent while Dereck tried to get his hands free and it led to many hit and hold incidents with ref Palomo being slow in breaking them apart. He could also have docked a point from both for either holding or holding and hitting.

"I had to fight two opponents," said Chisora after the fight and he had a point. - at the same time he was dangerous with his head and careless about where his punches landed.

Pulev fought as if he knew the fight was in the bag in the later rounds but it must be said that the 118-110 scorecard from French judge Christophe Hernant appeared to be well out of line. Chisora´s bodyshots kept landing and that made the fight close.

This was also a IBF eliminator but off this showing it´s difficult to see Kubrat Pulev being player at world title level. His upright, stiff stance makes him easy to hit and holding every time an opponent gets close won´t work every time.

ON THE UNDERCARD

Former WBA interim super middleweight champ Vincent Feigenbutz (22-2) stopped Argentinian Crispulo Javier Andino (19-10-1) 2.28 into the third. Feigenbutz appeared to have problems with Andino´s wild southpaw style in the first. However the referee interrupted Andino´s offensive claiming he was punching with the inside of his gloves (which he indeed did) and then for not listening to his commands.

Late in the first Andino went down from something and was counted over. In the second Feigenbutz kept stalking his opponent but didn´t unload until late in the round. In the third Andino appeared to be going from everything coming his way and the towel came in the third time he was on the floor. Andino came with a reputation of a fragile chin and did nothing to prove anyone wrong.

Light heavyweight Ismail Oezen (17-2) stopped Georgian Ramazi Gogichashvili (22-11-2) in the third to win the vacant GBU Intercontinental title in three. Gogichashvili was down once in the second and three times in the third before it was stopped at 2.57. Gogichashvili appeared to go down easily but not many of the hundreds of Oezen seemed to care and cheered their man wildly.

Super middleweight Stefan Haertel (10-0) outscored Ukrainian Ruslan Schelev (12-6) over eight. It was scored 80-72 on all cards. Haertel have yet to stop his first stoppage but did at times a number on Schelev with his good boxing. Schelev kept coming but was never able to break through the German´s solid defence.

WBO International cruiserweight champion Noel Gevor (21-0) retained the title with a ten round unanimous decision over Argentinean challenger Cristian Javier Medina (12-2-3). It was scored 98-92 on all cards. Gevor controlled most of the action behind his fine jab but could never hurt his opponent despite landing cleanly.

Swedish super lightweight Anthony "Can You Dig It" Yigit (17-0-1) won a close, majority decision after eight interesting rounds against Irishman Phillip Sutcliffe Jr (9-1). It was scored 77-75 twice and 76-76. Yigit, a southpaw, boxed well on the outside but was under pressure against the ropes at times and was shaken in the fourth. but fought well to get out of trouble.  Sutcliffe slowed down a bit and Yigit came back well in what indeed was a close fight with many rounds difficult to score.

Yigit is now residing in London and is trained by CJ Hussein. -This was our first fight together and there are some things we need to work on, said Hussein.

Super welterweight Sebastian Formella (12-0 and a local man) stopped Hungarian Guyla Vajda (18-13) 2.15 into the third of a scheduled six-rounder. Vajda was down in the first, had a point deducted after a headbutt in the second and was down after a heavy right in the third. Vajda was more wrestled than punched to the floor a second time but it was stopped with the crowd on hand cheering "Hafen-Basti".

Cruiserweight Arthur Mann (7-0, 6KOs) was forced to go the distance in outscoring still tough former WBA champ Valery Brudov (42-9) over eight. Brudov looked totally shot in the first and it looked as if Mann was heading for another early stoppage but the longer the fight went Brudov´s experience and toughness began to tell. Mann was forced to retreat but still scored with good counters although Brudov closed strongly.  At the end it was scored 78-74 on all cards.  This was a good test for Mann and he passed it.

Super middleweight Dominik Ameri (12-21)  stopped one Mihaita Cosma (0-2) billed as from Romania in the second in a joke of a fight. Cosma knew nothing about boxing, was down in the first, had a point deducted and wrestled around until he retired at 1.25 of the second.

Middleweight Patrick Wojcicki moved to 4-0 with an impressive knockout of experienced Georgian Robizon Omsarashvili (23-23-3). Wojcicki worked well off the jab and hurt Omsarashvili with a straight right in the second and then landed with a combination ended by another right and the Georgian went down and out at 1.09 of the second. It was scheduled for four.

Sauerland Promotion´s big - eleven fight - show at the Barclay Arena kicked off at 5 PM with welterweight Rishard Kwasniak making his pro debut with a knockout 30 seconds into the first round against overmatched Eduard Martirosov, 0-2. Kwasniak looked good - Martirosov not and he sat down after a punch to the head and was counted out.