I think boxing media thinks that Joshua will just steam roll on Pulev and the fight shouldn't last for 9 rounds before that knockout. He had him in round 4 on the canvass already if I'm not mistaken and it took another 5 more rounds to finish him.
So that's why he didn't get the praise that he was supposed to get in this fight. They think that Joshua is now playing safe and not aggressive enough to go for an early knock down.
Pulev's performance was disappointing, but he wasn't that bad to give a 4th round knockout victory to Anthony Joshua. AJ had to work hard for his win, and it was not a cakewalk. The outcome was more or less certain, as the odds were heavily favoring Joshua. But the next match against Fury will be different, and there he will be the underdog. On top of that Fury is in top form right now.
Pulev is a lot older than AJ and pushing 40. He's on his way out as a boxer but I think he did pretty well to survive as long as he did. I don't think Fury will beat AJ as easily as you lot seem to be making out. That was AJs first fight in a long time and Fury will have been out of action for a while as well before he gets to face AJ, assuming he also doesn't have a tune up fight in the meantime which might actually happen as he will probably have a mandatory soon (or Wilder will get his trilogy fight which is a still a string possibility).
Eddie Hearn said recently that all four belts may be dropped to get the fight done which is silly to me. Surely a big draw of this fight is that all the belts will be on the line. Take them away and it's just a fight between two boxers really.
Promoter Eddie Hearn says Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury may consider dropping all four world title belts to ensure their potential fight happens.
The all-British heavyweight showdown would be the first fight in history in which all four heavyweight titles are on the line.
Fury, 32, is WBC champion while Joshua, 31, holds the IBF, WBA and WBO belts.
"We have a fight on our hands, and sorry to the governing bodies, that eclipses all belts," Hearn said.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/boxing/55342704AJ won't be fighting anyone for a while anyway so I think Fury should just take the trilogy fight, secure the biggest bag of his career then he can move on to the AJ fights. No point dragging it out in arbitration which could go on a very long time when Fury can put an end to it and everyone can move on.