{"id":140381,"date":"2025-05-29T03:30:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T03:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/140381\/"},"modified":"2025-05-29T03:30:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T03:30:10","slug":"don-king-wins-1-1m-purse-bid-to-stage-wba-regular-heavyweight-title-bout-between-kubrat-pulev-michael-hunter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/140381\/","title":{"rendered":"Don King wins $1.1M purse bid to stage WBA ‘regular’ heavyweight title bout between Kubrat Pulev, Michael Hunter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Don King is back in the heavyweight title picture <\/a>as a potential player.
The Hall of Fame promoter announced Wednesday he won a $1.1 million WBA purse bid to promote the \u201cregular\u201d heavyweight title fight between Kubrat Pulev<\/a> and Michael Hunter <\/a>on Aug. 23 at a site to be determined. King said locations across Florida, Las Vegas, Ohio and Pennsylvania will be considered, as the event will take place on his 94th birthday week.<\/p>\n

While the WBA has promised in recent years to clean up and consolidate its secondary title picture across each of the weight classes, titles such as the one Pulev owns are still prevalent and cause confusion in the sport as to who exactly is the real champion in each division. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The WBA ordered a four-man heavyweight tournament in April with Fabio Wardley<\/a> set to take on Jarrell Miller, but the announced fight has since been upended by a shoulder injury to the latter. Justis Huni will instead face Wardley on June 7 in Ipswich, England<\/a>, for the interim version of the secondary belt.
According to the WBA, the winners between Wardley-Huni and Pulev-Hunter would have to fight each other no later than Dec. 31. Only Wardley is ranked in the top 10 at No. 10 in The Ring\u2019s heavyweight rankings. <\/a>
Pulev (32-3, 14 KOs), a 44-year-old from Bulgaria, secured the WBA \u201cregular\u201d title with a 12-round unanimous decision win against Mahmoud Charr<\/a> in December.<\/p>\n

Hunter (24-1-2, 17 KOs) won the vacant WBA gold title in June with a unanimous decision win against Cassius Chaney. Hunter last fought in December and scored a fifth-round TKO win against Christian Larrondo Garcia in Mexico. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Oleksandr Usyk has held the WBA \u201csuper\u201d heavyweight title since beating Anthony Joshua in 2021 and will look to defend the crown once again when he takes on Daniel Dubois for the undisputed crown on July 19 at Wembley Stadium. <\/a><\/p>\n

Usyk also holds The Ring, WBC and WBO titles. Dubois has the IBF crown courtesy of a KO of Joshua in September after the Ukrainian had vacated the title to move forward with his December rematch against Tyson Fury. <\/p>\n

Manouk Akopyan is The Ring\u2019s lead writer. Follow him on X and Instagram: @ManoukAkopyan<\/a>