The WBA has again denied Epic Sports and Entertainment’s second appeal trying to stop the WBA's order of a regular title bout between secondary heavyweight title holder Kubrat “The Cobra” Pulev and Michael “The Bounty” Hunter who is promoted by Don King Promotions. Pulev does not want to fight [the underserving Hunter] but King won the $1.1 million WBA purse bid and has been given the green light by the WBA for a second time to move forward in staging this championship fight.

 

The Southern California native Hunter is listed as 24-1-2 but that is a disingenuous record as it ignores an April 2024 loss to little-known Atem Suslenkov in Uzbekistan. In his last fight in December, Hunter registered a fifth-round TKO over Christian Larrondo Garcia in Mexico. Hunter’s only other career setback came back in 2017 when he lost a unanimous 12-round decision to current world champion Oleksandr Usyk.

 

“After a bunch of lies and disposing of two appeals, we are moving forward with looking for possible sites and sponsorships for this heavyweight championship to be held before the end of the year,” said King.  “Michael Hunter is excited for this great opportunity, and he plans to show the world that he will take the belt from Pulev."