It seemed Pulev had used his superior ring craft to rack up the rounds against a frustrated Chisora, although a couple of judges ringside at the Barclaycard Arena had other ideas.
Massimiliano Bianco saw the fight 116-112, whilst Christophe Hembert had it just about right with his card of 118-110, but how on earth Swiss official Beat Hausammann saw the contest 113-115 in favour of Chisora is anyone’s guess.
It’s the third time in two years that Hausammann has been the cause of a split decision result, having previously scored the 2015 bout between Ahmed El Mousaoui and Junior Witter in favour of the latter and the 2014 IBF world title clash between Stuart Hall and Paul Butler for the former.
In all three occasions, one judge has massively disagreed with what Hausammann pencilled in on his card so it seems something needs to be looked at regarding his high-profile trio of recent assignments.
Hausammann is already scheduled to take sit for two European title bouts in Liverpool on June 4 and can ill-afford another shocker should the EBU decide to allow him to keep his positions for the Echo Arena.
The result marred what was an entertaining contest as Pulev used his jab and crunching uppercuts to keep Chisora at bay for the majority of the bout.
Pulev now makes a move in the IBF rankings due his 23rd career win, whilst Chisora drops a sixth loss and may need to drop back down to domestic level to regroup.
