The Pulev Kiss Case Takes A Turn; Reporter Retains Famed Atty Gloria Allred

Kubrat Pulev won a career best victory on Saturday at The Hangar in Costa Mesa, California, and on ESPN, with his win being hailed as courageous and thrilling.

He accepted bows and congrats and media but of course sought to follow up with the 37 year old Bulgarian born hitter, who now holds a 27-1 record.

He did one postfight interview after stopping Bogdan Dinu in round seven with a reporter named Jenny SuShe (below), who contributes to Vegas Sports Daily.

Kubrat Pulev is in hot water for his actions following a Saturday night win over Bogdan Dinu. He spoke to a reporter and then went over the line and kissed her. 

That interview gained viral video traction because, at the end of the interview, Pulev leaned in and kissed the reporter on the lips. She seemed surprised: “Awright…thank you…Jesus Christ,” she said.

Pulev grabs Jenny and kisses her on the lips. She said she was surprised and didn’t want that to occur.

She took to Twitter soon after and called the kiss deal “strange” and “embarassing.”

Her employer then put out a statement indicating they were none to pleased with Pulev’s kiss attempt.

Good Morning,

On March 23, 2019 following the match between Kubrat Pulev and Bodgan Dinu, one of our contributors, Jenny Sushe was the victim of an unwanted, unexpected and unsolicited forceful kiss by Kubrat Pulev as she was attempting to conduct an interview with him following the match.

We are working around the clock with Jenny Sushe, and Pulev’s management team to further investigate the matter and determine appropriate steps/actions following this unfortunate event.

We want to be clear that Vegas Sports Daily values the safety and well-being of our contributors above any ratings, clicks and revenue.

We pride ourselves on providing journalists who share our love of sports and quality content the platform and space to do a job they love, free of abuse or harassment.

What happened to Ms. Sushe was completely blindsiding and unwarranted and we share in her shock, hurt, embarrassment and general outrage.

Secondly, Vegas Sports Daily prides itself on being a platform that advocates for and values women and their contribution to our publication and the sports industry itself.

We want to make it clear that women should feel safe and comfortable to exercise the duties of their job, free of abuse, advances, harassment, etc in the workplace.

Ms. Sushe is a valued member of our contribution team and we do not condone the violation of the personal space of our contributors for any reason.

We stand firmly behind Ms. Sushe as we continue to resolve this matter.

We will be communicating further details as we uncover them.

Contributing Author: Christina Sanders of Team Next Play.

Pulev fights under the Top Rank umbrella and a spokesman for Top Rank on Wednesday said the company didn’t wish to comment.

On Thursday, the situation took a new turn as the reporter, who I’d tried to contact since Sunday, to no avail, signed on with celeb attorney Gloria Allred.

Allred has a lengthy history of repping women who’ve been subjected to unwanted sexual advances, to varying degrees of severity. Often, her clients are not celebs, but have had intercations, negative ones they purport, with famous persons. She has repped clients who’ve alleged nefarious doings with people like Tiger Woods, and Donald Trump.

In a Thursday session held for media, Jenny, referred to in some pieces as Jenny Ravalo, went into more detail her interactions with Puelv. She met him for the first time at a Friday weigh in, she said. And then, after his Saturday fight, he kissed her forcibly and then, also, grabbed both her buttocks, non consensually.

She took umbrage with the kiss and the groping. In a letter to the California State Athletic Commission, Allred says, “We hereby request that the commission conduct an immediate investigation into the serious allegations..We request that Mr. Pulov’s boxing license be suspended.” TMZ broke the story on Thursday.

As it to be expected in this age of new media, with fact and opinions blurring, and persons adding their hot takes, often without the benefit of a full slate of details, this has been a hot button matter. On Twitter, there is no shortage of commenters pointing out that Jenny advertises herself as the “Queen of Naked Sushi” and that her ample cleavage on display at the fight card sent signals that could be interpreted that sexuality is a calling card. And on the other side, there is no shortage of persons saying that attire is simply that, and no matter the level of cleavage display, a person isn’t entitled to kiss or grope someone else against their will, or without consent. Fighter Heather Hardy made it quite clear where she stood on the matter, in no uncertain terms:

Heather Hardy made clear that she in no way excuses Pulev, for being in the heat of battle, or for cultural differences.

I left a message with Pulev requesting comment and also asked to speak to Ms. Allred. Messages to Jenny SuShe, via Twitter, were not responded to.

My three cents: This situation occurs in the context of a movement and cause celebre which erupted in the fall of 2017. A wave of allegations and admissions of sexual misconduct mainly perpetrated by powerful men in Hollywood and other power stations, with a common theme being actions of entitlement and also full on sex assault, aimed at women, mostly, who had to contend with being on a lower platform tier. The wave of women speaking up about situations where they’d been mistreated, often in vile and vicious fashion, reverberates today and so this case is a continuing re-setting of entrenched norms. Bottom line, which more and more people seem to be getting is this–no one is entitled to force unwanted, non consensual attention upon another human being. Sexual harassment and worse has been a don’t ask don’t tell deal and something often swept under the rug for too long.

Woods does blow by blow on the Facebook Fightnight Live series. Watch on Friday, March 29, from Melrose, Mass. Listen to Woods’ podcast powered by Everlast.