On Saturday, Anthony Joshua will go toe-to-toe in the ring with Bulgarian veteran Kubrat Pulev, defending his WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight titles.
Mandatory challenger Pulev will step in the ring and is confident in his ability, declaring himself 'the new champion' in the press conference ahead of Saturday night.
Meanwhile, former WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew believes there will be an explosive finish, and said he is looking forward to the fight.
In an interview with talkSPORT, Bellew spoke ahead of the fight taking place in the SSE Arena in Wembley on Saturday.
Bellew spoke highly of the challenger ahead of the title bout, and refuses to completely write off a Pulev victory.
He said: “You always have to take into consideration these heavyweights.
“Pulev was an outstanding amateur. I was in the European Championships with him in Bulgaria and he’s a superstar in Bulgaria”.
Bellew continued, saying: “He’s coming to win. He is a really good fighter – very, very powerful with the right hand”.
However, the former cruiserweight champion believes Joshua has what it takes to be victorious against Pulev and will maintain his unified heavyweight champion status.
Bellew said: “AJ’s just better than him in every department for me. I just think the speed will be too much and he will catch up with him pretty quickly.
“He’s just got to be very careful of getting into exchanges in the first couple of rounds – that’s the only chance Pulev stands is them first couple of rounds.
“But, as I say, AJ’s quicker, more powerful, he’s more explosive. I can only see an AJ knockout between four and six rounds”.
It’s safe to say that Bellew is a big fan of Joshua, with his comments about the British champion made back in October of this year, including Bellew’s quote that:
“AJ is the fastest combination puncher in the heavyweight division since Mike Tyson”.
“No one throws punches in combinations with the speed, power and ferocity that AJ does”, argued Bellew.
Big claim. Joshua will be looking to use his combinations in the highly-anticipated title fight against Pulev.
We can't wait.