Wladimir Klitschko's Top 5: When He Dropped the Hammer on Kubrat Pulev

Wladimir Klitschko's Top 5: When He Dropped the Hammer on Kubrat Pulev

The dominance over Kubrat Pulev in the 17th successful defense of the world title

Ukrainian Wladimir Klitschko is among the best boxers of our time. Ever since he won the super heavyweight gold medal at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, he has been destined to become a professional world champion. The almost two-meter boxer played a total of 69 matches in the professional ring, of which he won 64, and 53 of the victories came after a knockout. Klicno is a real machine and has more than memorable matches in his career. But who are his top five? We will find out in a series of articles in which we will tell about the best matches of the Ukrainian boxer.

Whether due to bias or the fact that Kubrat Pulev enters the match undefeated, the match between the "Cobra" and Klitschko is in the top five of the former world champion's clashes. The date is November 15, 2014, and Vladimir will try to defend the world heavyweight title for the 17th time on German soil.

Already in the first round in Hamburg, where the Bulgarian boxer lives and trains, Klitschko demonstrated his class and knocked down his opponent twice. Before that happened, the Cobra landed a nice straight and started the bout much more aggressively, but after a successful left hook from the Ukrainian, Pulev was down just 80 seconds after the first gong. Despite the visible shaking of the Bulgarian, the meeting continues and after another successful combination, Kubrat is again on the ground, but stands up again.

Barely surviving the first round, Kubrat is really hard pressed by his visibly classier opponent. Klitschko seems to be simply giving the challenger a little more time, waiting for the perfect moment to score another knockout success.

The third part offers us a new powerful hook of the Ukrainian, which seriously rattles Pulev and we witness another knockdown. A straight left and a shove to the ropes follow, which only emphasize that Klitschko will hardly have any trouble ending the match before nine minutes have passed. Still, The Cobra survives again, but looks like he could fall to the ring at any moment.

In the fourth round, the Ukrainian opens a wound above Pulev's eye, which gives him an additional advantage, and he can further reduce the aggression, looking only for straight shots and clinches with which to avoid possible hard shots from Kubrat. However, the open wound angers the Bulgarian and he delivers several accurate shots to the back of Klitschko's head.

However, this only infuriates the Ukrainian and the fifth round turns out to be the last of the match. Determined not to take any more punches, Klitschko lands another powerful left hook that perfectly finds the head of the Bulgarian fighter. After another fall, there is no recovery for Pulev. Wladimir Klitschko managed to make the 17th defense of the world heavyweight title, and for a 38-year-old boxer, he demonstrated incredible aggression, great desire and high intensity. All these qualities help him inflict the first loss of Kubrat's career and dominate like never before.

This victory of Wladimir Klitschko is considered the most seamless and easiest against a legitimate contender for the world title. And the American sports giant ESPN defines the knockout of the Ukrainian as the knockout of the year 2014. Unfortunately for us, Kubrat Pulev really did not look like a worthy opponent of Klitschko for the title of world champion.   

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