Cruiserweight contender Tervel Pulev will face hard-hitting Joel Shojgreen Thursday night, promoter Roy Englebrecht confirmed to BoxingScene.com Tuesday night.

The eight-round bout will take place inside The Hangar at the Orange County Fair and Events Center in Costa Mesa, California and will precede the main event bout between welterweights Ricardo Robeldo and Tyrrell Washington (Fite.tv, 10 p.m. ET/ 7 p.m. PT).

Pulev (16-1, 13 knockouts), who resides in Sofia, Bulgaria, last fought on May 14, losing by unanimous decision to former unified light heavyweight titleholder Sergey Kovalev in nearby Inglewood. In his previous fight in January 2021, the 40-year-old Pulev stopped Vikapita Meroro in the ninth round. 

Ironically, Pulev will fight in the same venue as older brother, former world heavyweight title challenger Kubrat Pulev, did in March 2019, knocking out Bogdan Dinu in the seventh round. 

Like Pulev, Shojgreen is attempting to rebound from a loss in his last fight. 

The 40-year-old Shojgreen (14-4, 13 KOs), who resides in Brooklyn, New York, lost by knockout to Soslan Asbarov in the opening round on December 25. He had won his previous three fights. 

Shojgreen is currently a promotional free agent. He did fight recently under the Star Boxing Promotions banner, which has a working relationship with Shojgreen. Promoter Joe Deguardia of Star Boxing told Boxingscene Wednesday he secured the Pulev fight for Shojgreen. 

Robledo (6-0, 2 KOs), who resides in the Los Angeles suburb of North Hollywood, defeated Jacob Serrano by unanimous decision in his last bout on October 27.

Washington (4-1, 3 KOs) suffered his first loss as a pro in his last bout on October 1, losing by majority decision to Alejandro Luzania Estrada. The 30-year-old southpaw resides in Mira Loma, California.

Two more boxing fights, along with three MMA fights, will round out the Roy Englebrecht Promotions card. 

Francisco A. Salazar has written for BoxingScene since September 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing