Our attention turns to Sofia, Bulgaria, this weekend, as Hughie Fury (21-1) makes the trip east to face the feared yet underrated Kubrat Pulev (25-1) in a final eliminator for the IBF world heavyweight title.

The winner, in theory, will be in place to fight Anthony Joshua for the majority of the heavyweight marbles sometime in 2019; boxing politics will no doubt place hurdles in front of this assumption.

Hughie Fury is coming off of a fifth round stoppage against Sam Sexton where the 24-year-old claimed the British heavyweight title. Previous to this, Fury lost a contentious twelve round decision against, then, WBO world heavyweight champion Joseph Parker in Manchester; Parker would go on to lose his strap in a unification against Joshua.

Pulev’s recent story has been far less straight-forward. An injury towards the end of his camp forced the Bulgarian to pull out of a world title fight against Joshua; Carlos Takam stepped in and came close to taking the champion the distance. Pulev hasn’t fought since dissecting Kevin Johnson over the distance in April 2017 – that’s close to 18 months outside of the ring!

The 37-year-old has constantly claimed that he has been avoided by some of the bigger names in the sport. Dillian Whyte and Jarrell Miller have apparently turned down chances to travel to Bulgaria for an IBF final eliminator, leaving Hughie to step up.

It’s a huge ask of the Brit to travel to Sofia and upset the Cobra, however, momentum is arguably on his side.

Hughie Fury to beat Kubrat Pulev @ 6/5 (BetFred/BetVictor)

It’s an old saying in boxing, but fighters can get old overnight. Father-time has caught up with the best of fighters over the decades, and it doesn’t look like changing any time soon. At 37, Pulev has miles on the clock. With 26 fights as a professional, coupled with over 100 as an amateur, there is a clear gulf between him and his opponent of 24.

Yes, experience is key – something that the Cobra has in bucketloads – in boxing, but under the tutelage of Peter Fury, Hughie has had long enough in camp to learn from the mistakes he made against Joseph Parker. He controlled the fight well on the front foot, but in failing to throw his right hand he allowed the Kiwi to scoop up the contentious rounds.

Pulev is a rough-and-tough rugged style fighter. He throws a dangerous left hook and is able to do a lot of his good work on the inside. If Fury can box smart, keeping his distance yet controlling the fight with a stiff jab, then the home fighter may become frustrated with the challenger.

If Fury can remain cute throughout the fight, with little flick punches here and there, there is a chance he can make Pulev look silly in some of the rounds; with the scorecards tending to favour the home fighter the pressure will be on Hughie to make convincing arguments of the 50/50 rounds.

Fury is the momentum bet. Pulev is currently an unknown quantity, with the pressure of the Sofia faithful firmly on his shoulders. It’ll be tight, and it’ll probably go the distance, but there’s value in backing Fury to pinch it.