The 93-year-old took to Instagram to confirm that his purse bid for the title fight had been successful, sharing: “Hall of Fame boxing Promoter Don King wins $1.1million purse bid to promote WBA regular heavyweight world champion Kubrat Pulev facing no. 2 contender Michael Hunter on August 23.” 

44-year-old Pulev, 32-3 (14), took the WBA’s secondary world title with a unanimous decision over Mahmoud Charr in December. Hunter, 24-1-2 (17), enters the contest as the WBA gold champion at heavyweight, having won the strap in June 2024 with a unanimous decision of his own against Cassius Chaney. 

Pulev-Hunter effectively serves as a semi-final to a four-man tournament set up by the WBA. Fabio Wardley’s clash with Justis Huni on Saturday, June 7, live on DAZN, is the other leg of the eliminator, with a view of the winners from each fight to face each other before December 31.  

The winner of Wardley-Hunis will take the interim regular heavyweight title, further cementing the victor’s position as challenger to the regular belt. 

Whilst Kubrat Pulev is listed by the WBA as a world champion and is thus unranked, Wardley, Hunter, and Huni are all inside the organisation’s top 10. 

Wardley is currently number one, with Hunter second. Huni is further down the ratings, coming in at ninth at the WBA’s last update at the end of April. 

It remains to be seen whether the winner of the four-man tournament will be given any preferential treatment, such as an official mandatory shot at the WBA’s ‘super’ heavyweight champion, Oleksandr Usyk. 

Despite previous promises to streamline their world titles, the WBA has continued to hand out both regular and super versions of titles across numerous divisions. 

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