A Bulgarian heavyweight champion who sucker-smooched a female sports reporter during a post-fight interview has been reinstated after completing a sexual harassment course and paying a $2,500 fine.
The California State Athletic Commission voted 6-0 on Monday to allow Kubrat Pulev to reapply for his license — but warned that any future offenses would result in a lifetime ban from fighting in North America.
Pulev, 38, was suspended in May after kissing Vegas Sport Daily journalist Jennifer Ravalo without her consent while she was interviewing him following his defeat of Romania’s Bogdan Dinu in Costa Mesa, California, on March 23.
The puckering pugilist has apologized to Ravalo — who works under the name SuShe — during an earlier hearing with the commission.
Pulev has downplayed the kiss and claimed the reporter was a close friend — but Ravalo’s attorney Gloria Allred described the lip lock as “sexual harassment.”
On Monday, he again apologized to the reporter before the vote, insisting that his actions were merely a result of his euphoria after the victory.
Ravalo told the commission that she has been bullied online for speaking up. She also took aim at Pulev’s agent, Bob Arum of Top Rank.
“Mr. Arum cares little about sexual harassment at all,” Ravalo said, noting that he recently said he did not believe “that a 6-foot-4, 250-pound boxer grabbing the face of a 5-foot-2 reporter and forcibly kissing her with his bloody mouth was sexual harassment. I would like to see if he would think differently if a large, bloody man did the same to him without his consent.”
Allred asked the commission to sanction Pulev and Arum.
In response, the commission said Arum also attended a sexual harassment remediation class with Pulev and appeared to have learned a lesson.
The fighter agreed to participate in a video campaign about sexual harassment, saying it would be important for people to know that such behavior is not correct “because a lot of people like me don’t know.”
With Post wires


