Reporter Forcefully Kissed By Boxer Kubrat Pulev Hires Gloria Allred, Says Pulev Also Groped Her

Last weekend, Bulgarian boxer Kubrat Pulev ended his interview with Vegas Sports Daily reporter Jennifer Ravalo by grabbing her face and kissing her. Pulev defended the kiss and claimed that he and Ravalo were friends who laughed about it later, though Ravalo strongly denied Pulev’s version of events in a press conference today. Ravalo also hired prominent attorney Gloria Allred to represent her in her attempts to bring Pulev to justice.

Ravalo began the presser by reading a short statement, in which she said that Pulev not only kissed her without her consent, but also grabbed her butt with both of his hands before walking out of the room without saying anything else to her. “I did not encourage or consent to Mr. Pulev grabbing my face, kissing me, or grabbing my backside,” she said. Ravalo also took on Pulev’s insistence that they laughed it off at a party later, claiming that he asked her to delete the footage of the kiss, which she declined to do. “No woman should be treated this way,” Ravalo said. “He had no right to kiss me.”

Allred also read a prepared statement for the press, calling on the California State Athletic Commission to revoke Pulev’s license and conduct an “immediate investigation into the serious allegations herein.” She characterized the kiss and alleged groping as sexual assault. (Allred posted a video of the entire presser onto her Facebook page, though the first five minutes are filmed sideways for some reason.)

The next CSAC meeting takes place in May, and Allred asked the commission to review the case at that time and allow Ravalo to testify.