For the eighth time boxer Kubrat Pulev was dubbed Athlete № 1 in the monthly poll among sports journalists in Bulgaria. This has happened after in May the boxer won his 23rd victory on the professional ring. In a match against Derek Chisora ​​in Hamburg Pulev regained the European title. His only loss on the ring so far was against former world champion Wladimir Klitschko in 2014. Currently, Kubrat holds the third place in the world heavyweight boxers ranking of the World Boxing Council (WBC) and is second in the rank list of the IBF (International Boxing Federation). Here is what the Cobra told us about his plans for the future:

"We have been having negotiations with Mariusz Wach from Poland, who wants to fight against me. I think that such a match could happen by the end of the year.”

According to Pulev, the match could take place in Sofia’s "Arena Armeec" but details about the fight are yet to be revealed.

"I guess my next match would be actually defending the European title because I am obliged to defend it in a certain period of time. But in addition to defending the title, the match can also be a match for some other belt with the exception of the world title, for which I must become official challenger.  There must be an elimination match first before I become challenger. I am third in the rank list of WBC and I think this is a title that I should try to grab.  The WBC heavyweight fight between Alexander Povetkin and Deontay Wilder has been called off because of some scandals, so we are yet to see how things would develop.”

Speaking about the state of boxing in Bulgaria and the current results of the Olympic qualification in Baku in the period June 16 – 25, Kubrat Pulev said that in order to be successful Bulgarian boxing required a totally new approach:

"The very foundation of boxing must be rebuilt. Hopefully we would get quotas and medals. But after the Olympics we need to think about the whole Olympic cycle, not just for the year and the European championship, otherwise there would be no progress. There will be some occasional victories and medals grabbed thanks to sheer luck. When there is a detailed roadmap, progress is better and we could expect medals during the next Olympics."

Weeks ago, the International Boxing Association (AIBA) decided professional boxers should have the right to participate in the Olympics, including in the upcoming games in Rio. Here is what Kubrat Pulev said:

"I support the decision because this is an opportunity for professionals to compete against amateurs, and vice versa. I think that there is nothing wrong about this. This is something of unification in boxing as a whole, although it will be hard to achieve this as the two types of boxing are very different. But I cannot say I would participate because there are unresolved issues between professional and amateur boxing," Pulev said, referring to the subsequent decisions of the IBF and WBC to sanction professionals who take part in Olympics.

At the end of last year Kubrat and his brother Tervel, a bronze medallist at the Olympic Games in London in 2012, established a boxing academy accessible to children and adults that also supports young talents from poor families. The European champion among professionals said that the academy was successful and he was now considering ​​opening of a second boxing hall:

"There are really talented boys that remind me of myself when I was small. Talents are easily recognised and we focus on them. There are boys that have strong character and this is very important in boxing. We are trying to do the necessary in order for them not to give up; we motivate them to train hard and to strive for success," the Cobra says.

English: Alexander Markov