The Bulgarian boxer who was seen planting a stolen kiss on lips of a female Filipino-American reporter during an interview has been suspended by the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC).
According to sports news websites, the license of Bulgarian heavyweight boxer Kubrat Pulev has been suspended due to his indecent actions.
It can be recalled that Vegas Sports Daily reporter Jennifer Ravalo was supposed to do an interview with Pulev after he won his fight against Bogdan Dinu in Las Vegas.
Just when the Fil-Am reporter asked Pulev if he would be glad to take on Tyson Fury, a British heavyweight champion, Pulev replied “Yes!” Suddenly, he grabbed the face of the reporter and kissed her on the lips.
Ravalo was visibly shocked and said, “Alright!” as she burst into a nervous laugh. Then she blurted “Jesus!” as she turned off the video recording.
After the video has been broadcasted, the CSAC has ordered Pulev to appear in front of them to deal with what happened as they are taking the incident seriously.
“Before he will be licensed to fight in California again, boxer Kubrat Pulev must appear in front of the commission and demonstrate that he will conform to this principle of respect,” the CSAC said in a statement.
Pulev has also posted a statement on his Instagram account saying that Ravalo is his friend and that they have already talked about the incident.
For the most commented kiss in the world! pic.twitter.com/T1Ktlprff4
— Kubrat Pulev (@KubratPulev) March 26, 2019
“The reporter, Jenny, is actually a friend of mine, and after the interview, I was so elated, I gave her a kiss,” he said. “On the video, after our kiss, we both laughed about it and thanked each other. There is really nothing more to this.”
However, Ravalo, who works under the name Jenny Sushe, had a different version of the story on her statement.
She narrated that she was invited to the said celebration because “there was an opportunity to interview more fighters.”
It was at that party wherein Pulev asked him to edit out the kissing incident from the video but Ravalo refused to do so.
“I did not remove it and instead posted it because I wanted people to see what he had done to me. I wanted him to be accountable,” she said.
