Tervel Pulev scored a knockout victory over Joel Shojgreen Thursday night inside The Hangar at the OC Fair and Events Center in Costa Mesa, California.

Pulev, who resides in Sofia, Bulgaria, improves to 17-1, 14 knockouts.

The pace of the cruiserweight fight from the opening round was slow and methodical. The 41-year-old Pulev pawed jabs at Shojgreen, who did not throw enough and was content to make Pulev miss anytime the Bulgaria-born fighter threw right hands to the head.

During the third round, Shojgreen decided to finally let his hands go, attempting to catch Pulev off-guard by initiating exchanges between the two fighters. Towards the end of the round, a right cross dropped Shojgreen down to the canvas against the ropes. Shojgreen did beat the count and was able to make it out of the round.

Shojgreen decided not to come out of his corner for the fourth round, prompting referee Thomas Taylor to wave the fight off.

Pulev, who is the younger brother of former world heavyweight title challenger Kubrat Pulev, had not fought since losing to Sergey Kovalev on May 14 in nearby Inglewood. Ironically, fought in the same venue Kubrat Pulev did in March 2019, knocking out Bogdan Dinu in the seventh round. 

Both Kubrat and Tervel Pulev are managed by Ivaylo Gotzev.

The 40-year-old Shojgreen, who resides in Brooklyn, New York, falls to 14-5, 13 KOs. He has split his last six bouts. 

In the main event of the Roy Englebrecht Promotions card, welterweight Ricardo Robledo knocked out Tyrrell Washington (4-2, 3 KOs) of Mira Loma, California in the fourth round. Robledo, who resides in the Los Angeles suburb of Mission Hills, improves to 7-0, 3 KOs. 

The card streamed live on Fite.tv. 

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