Claressa Shields, Heather Hardy, Frank Warren Criticize Kubrat Pulev For Kissing Reporter
Kubrat Pulev’s now infamous kiss to Jennifer Ravalo has made waves across boxing and a number of prominent figures from the sport have come out and denounced the Bulgarian boxer.
During an interview after a win over Bogdan Dinu, Pulev kissed Ravalo by surprise. Ravalo would later say that Pulev grabbed her backside later on without consent and hadn’t apologized for the incident. Ravalo has hired an attorney in the hopes of Pulev’s boxing license being suspended. Pulev has since then downplayed the incident.
In a recent column that he wrote, Frank Warren reacted to the entire situation, admonishing Pulev’s actions and calling them wrong and inappropriate.
“Meanwhile, I’ll say one thing about Kubrat Pulev, you’ll never get me kissing Steve Bunce during an interview. You can’t do that, kissing a reporter? It’s wrong. It’s inappropriate, whether he knows her or not, you can’t do that in a work environment. I’ve never seen that before and I hope not to again,” Warren wrote.
But the British promoter wasn’t the only one to discuss the matter as unified middleweight champion Claressa Shields and WBO featherweight champion Heather Hardy have gone to Twitter to criticize Pulev and anyone defending the boxer’s actions.
It wouldn’t matter to me if it was one of my friends, my boyfriend, or my husband. There’s a time and a place for everything and that woman was on her job. It’s degrading and flat out inappropriate and even if SHE wasn’t pissed-i would be. So FRIENDS, take note. Don’t kiss me. https://t.co/xodIUk1t9i
— Heather Heat Hardy (@HeatherHardyBox) March 26, 2019
Boxing fans should be ashamed of themselves. This woman was sexually assaulted, not only did he kiss her, but groped her butt after the interview. I’m not saying Pulev should be sentenced to 20 years in jail, or any jail time at all. He needs to apologize & be held accountable. https://t.co/nkTkFEwhNv
— ClaressaT-rexShields (@Claressashields) March 29, 2019
Warren’s column, where he also defended the Tyson Fury vs. Tom Schwarz matchup taking place this summer, can be read at this link.