In 2007. he won the Chemiepokal tournament and was regarded as one of the favorites at the 2007 World Amateur Boxing Championships, but had a bad draw and lost early to southpaw Olympic bronze medalist and eventual winner Roberto Cammarelle.

[2] In absence of Roberto Cammarelle, he beat Marko Tomasović, Roman Kapitonenko and Denis Sergeev to claim the European Championship.

[10][11] On 1 August 2012, it was announced that Pulev would defend his European and IBF International heavyweight titles against unbeaten Belarus boxer Alexander Ustinov (27-0, 21 KOs) on 29 September in Hamburg.

[40] Despite making a spirited effort, Pulev suffered three knockdowns en route to being knocked out in round five by a devastating left hook.

[55][56] On 1 November 2016, it was announced that Pulev would fight returning former heavyweight world champion Samuel Peter (36-5, 29 KOs) on 3 December at the Arena Armeec in Sofia, Bulgaria.

[57] On 22 November, Pulev decided to vacate the EBU title instead entering purse bids against mandatory Mariusz Wach.

In front of 15,000 at the Arena Armeec, Pulev defeated Peter via a 3rd round RTD to win the vacant WBA Inter-Continental heavyweight title.

Johnson made a return to boxing, following his first knockout loss to Anthony Joshua in 2015, on 11 March in an eight-round unanimous decision win against Jamal Woods.

[64] WBA president Gilberto J. Mendoza confirmed that the winner will have to face mandatory challenger Luis Ortiz next, with deadlines due to be set after the unification fight.

[69][70] On 4 August, upon learning that Klitschko had retired, the IBF immediately ordered Joshua and Pulev to fight next, with a deal needing to be reached by 3 September 2017.

[71] The WBA then ordered Joshua to make his mandatory defence against their top ranked fighter Luis Ortiz, giving them 30 days to reach a deal.

[73] On 22 August, details between the camps of Joshua and Pulev were being discussed and close to being finalised for the date of 28 October 2017, with Las Vegas as the potential host.

[75] Promoter Eddie Hearn made the official announcement on 5 September, "I'm delighted that we will be in Cardiff at the magnificent Principality Stadium for the next step of the AJ journey.

1-ranked Kubrat Pulev, and the card will be stacked with world championship action, domestic title fights and the very best young stars in the game.

"[76] The official press conference took place on 11 September and the following day, a reported 70,000 tickets had been sold, making it the fastest selling event.

[78] The injury was later revealed to be true and 36-year-old Carlos Takam (35-3-1, 27 KOs), who was ranked number 3 by the IBF stepped in to replace Pulev on 12 days notice.

Eddie Hearn said in a statement that he received a phone call from Pulev's promoter Kalle Sauerland, advising him of a shoulder injury he sustained during sparring.

[80] The purse bids were delayed as a deal between Eddie Hearn and Team Sauerland, Pulev's promoter was close to being agreed.

[82][83] New York based promotional company, Epic Sports & Entertainment made a purse bid of $1,500,111, winning the rights of the fight.

IBF ruling states for a final eliminator, the higher ranked boxer, in this case was Pulev, would get 75% ($1,125,083.25) and Whyte would earn $375,027.75 for the fight.

Fury spent the majority of the second half of the fight trying to counter Pulev, however was unable to land any meaningful shot.

Bob Arum revealed the plan for 2019 was to have Pulev main event a card on ESPN against a known, in preparation for a future Anthony Joshua showdown.

[101] On 2 March 2020, both Matchroom's Eddie Hearn and Top Rank's Bob Arum officially announced Pulev as the IBF mandatory challenger, will fight Anthony Joshua at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on 20 June 2020.

[106] After weeks trying to find an opponent, on 7 June, Matchroom Boxing announced Derek Chisora (32-12, 23 KOs) would headline once again at The O2 Arena in London streaming live on DAZN in a rematch against Pulev on 9 July 2022 for the vacant WBA International heavyweight title.

At the weigh-in, which took place at Canary Wharf's East Wintergarden, Chisora wore a mask off Boris Johnson, who recently resigned as Prime Minister of United Kingdom.

[121] Kubrat Pulev defeated Mahmoud Charr via unanimous decision to claim the WBA Regular Heavyweight Title in their fight on December 7, 2024, held in Sofia, Bulgaria.

This victory marked a significant achievement for the 43-year-old Pulev, as he captured the belt on home turf against Charr, who was returning to the ring after a long period of inactivity.

Promoted by Triller and held at the Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, Pulev defeated Mir via TKO at 1 minute 59 seconds in the first round of a scheduled nine-round bout.

[123] On 23 March 2019, after defeating Bogdan Dinu in Costa Mesa, Pulev forcibly kissed a female reporter Jennifer Ravalo on the lips during an interview.

[129] Pulev has declined lucrative financial offers to represent Germany, viewing it as a matter of principle not to change his national allegiance.