Kubrat Pulev Reinstated After Incident With Female Reporter

Kubrat Pulev is now eligible to apply for a boxing license in the United States after complying with the California State Athletic Commission in the aftermath of him kissing a reporter on the lips without consent.

Back in May, after a win over Bogdan Dinu in the main event of a Top Rank on ESPN card, Pulev was interviewed by Jennifer Ravala (a.k.a. Jennifer Sushe) and during the interview, Pulev kissed her out of nowhere. After Ravalo hired attorney Gloria Allred, the commission suspended Pulev, fined him and ordered him to complete a course on sexual harassment. The sexual harassment course needed to be completed before Pulev can apply for a license, which he did. On July 22, Pulev went to the commission and is now able to return to the ring. 

Ivaylo Gotzev of Epic Sports, the company that co-promotes Pulev alongside Top Rank, told ESPN that Pulev is now focused on his next fight and a potential shot at a world title down the road.

“It was good hearing. Everybody’s side was heard again and the bottom line is Kubrat Pulev has complied over and above what was requested of him. The more important part is Kubrat Pulev wants to do more in the future. The whole world has an opinion on this situation and we want to educate and show by example how things should be handled and how athletes should behave. This was a lesson well learned and now we want to help others not make a mistake like this one. Kubrat is a great person and wants to help others. He’s going to educate others how they should act in these situations,” Gotzev said.

Pulev is currently the mandatory challenger to the IBF heavyweight title currently being held by Andy Ruiz Jr. Pulev was the mandatory challenger all the way back in 2017, but weeks before he got his title shot against Anthony Joshua, Pulev suffered an injury and withdrew from the bout. Prior to the win over Dinu, Pulev won a title eliminator against Hughie Fury in October 2018.