Heavyweight contender Kubrat Pulev, who will meet Hughie Fury in October in a fight to decide the challenger for the International Boxing Federation’s (IBF) world title, says that he bought out the remainder of his promotional contract to terminate his agreement with promoter Team Sauerland.
“Everything happened 10 days ago,” the 37-year-old Pulev, will make his much-anticipated comeback after an absence of a year and a half in Sofia on Oct. 27, said on Thursday. “I paid $150,000 because of the early termination of the contract.”
The fight against Fury, which will decide the challenger for the IBF title held by Anthony Joshua, will be Pulev’s first since April 2017 when he beat veteran Kevin Johnson in Sofia.
“We pursue different interests and we have a different ideology,” Pulev said. “I think everyone should pursue his goals in his own way and that’s good for all. And I had to pay for it.”
Team Sauerland, signed a contract extension with Pulev in early 2015, which was due to expire at the end of the year.
Tensions had built up between Pulev and Team Sauerland over the last year as the Bulgarian strongly criticized the promoter for the way it has handled his negotiations for a mandatory fight with Joshua.
Pulev pulled out of the contest with Joshua in October of last year after suffering a shoulder injury. Joshua, who also holds the WBA, IBO and WBO titles, went on to defeat late-replacement Carlos Takam at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.
Hughie Fury is a cousin of former world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.
The IBF had previosuly ordered Pulev to face Dillian Whyte and Jarell Miller to decide a title challenger but the two turned down the fight.
Known as The Cobra, Pulev previously challenged for the IBF world heavyweight title in 2014, losing to Wladimir Klitschko in Hamburg on a fifth-round knockout. Since then, Pulev has won five fights in a row.
