Kubrat Pulev has positioned himself for at least one more big payday in what should be the twilight of his career.

The 43-year former title challenger claimed a secondary version of the WBA heavyweight title after a twelve-round, unanimous decision victory over Mahmoud Charr. Scores were 117-1111, 117-111 and 116-112 for Pulev in a homecoming headliner Saturday in Sofia, Bulgaria.

More than 10,000 fans were in attendance at Arena Sofia for what was billed as an historic moment for the nation. Pulev (32-3, 14 knockouts) was hailed as Bulgaria’s first ever heavyweight champion, though the WBA ‘Regular’ belt is not recognized by the other sanctioning bodies, nor by The Ring.

The win should forever put an end to Charr (34-5, 20 KOs)—a Syrian heavyweight based in Germany—clogging up the WBA route. Charr was reinstated as the sanctioning body’s ‘Regular’ title in a settlement agreement after he was stripped of the belt in 2021. He won the title in 2017 but never made a single successful defense due to cancellations, drug testing and travel visa issues and the pandemic.

However, Saturday’s changing of the guard means that Pulev is right back in the title mix.

Possession of the secondary belt leaves the former two-time full title challenger as a mandatory for the main WBA title held by Oleksandr Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs), The Ring heavyweight champion and pound-for-pound king.

Pulev’s win came two weeks prior to the Dec. 21 Ring/unified heavyweight championship rematch between Usyk and former champ Tyson Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Usyk upended Fury, The Ring No. 1-rated heavyweight, via split decision on May 18 to defend The Ring championship and fully unify the WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO titles.

Given the recent moves in the heavyweight division, Pulev could very well race to the top of the mandatory queue.

Only the IBF belt will not be at stake for the rematch. Additionally, its claimant–The Ring No. 2-rated Daniel Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs)–is due to face The Ring No. 3 Joseph Parker (35-3, 23 KOs) on Feb. 22 in Riyadh. Parker holds the interim WBO title but will likely have to vacate as he will compete for another sanctioning body title.

Further working in Pulev’s favor is the path that will lead to the next WBC mandatory.

The same Feb. 22 show will see Zhilei Zhang (27-2-1, 22 KOs) and Agit Kabayel (25-0, 17 KOs), The Ring No. 4 and No. 5 heavyweights, respectively, vie for the vacant interim WBC title.

That would leave Pulev as the only available top-rated challenger upon the completion of Usyk-Fury II.

Pulev, unranked by The Ring, suffered knockout defeats in separate failed title challenges versus Vladimir Klitschko in Nov. 2014 and Anthony Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs; The Ring No. 7 heavyweight) in Dec. 2020.

He has won four of his past five starts since the Joshua defeat. The lone loss during that run was to Derek Chisoria in a disputed July 2022 verdict in London.