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By Shaun Brown
SHORTLY before Boxing News spoke to Joshua Buatsi, I watched a video involving a confrontation between the Ghanaian-born British light-heavyweight and his next opponent Willy Hutchinson.
The two men were being kept apart by security in a room where the tension between the fighters was close to filtering through to their fists.
Hutchinson earned his shot at the WBO No.1 contender, beating Craig Richards in convincing style on June 1 in Riyadh. But the Scot’s tactics were not just confined to the ring. During fight week he made attempts to rile and rattle ‘Spider’.
Buatsi, like Richards, is normally a calm, cool and collected individual but in this particular video the unbeaten fighter was unhappy with Hutchinson’s words and behaviour towards him and said, “There’s a lot of talking you’re doing but now the cameras are not rolling. So if you’re going to say anything…”
Hutchinson then begins to laugh. Buatsi politely asks security to step aside to allow him the chance to speak to the 26-year-old without interruption.
“I just wanna talk to the guy,” Buatsi pleads with them.
Eventually, the two are face-to-face.
“Now the cameras are not on…,” Buatsi says.
And then immediately he grabs Hutchinson by the throat before security separate them and stop their September 21 date at Wembley Stadium beginning weeks in advance. Carl Frampton, now a pundit for TNT Sports, pops up in the video in the role of silent peacemaker and his appearance gives a clue to the context of the fracas.
When Boxing News began our interview with Buatsi, the first question was whether Hutchinson had got under his skin.
“I think from the outside view, everyone would say that,” he says.
“But you know what I think? I think when people watch the Gloves Are Off – you know when you sit at the table – they’ll see why during that.
“I said to Carl Frampton, who was doing the TNT one, and I said to the DAZN guy Ade [Oladipo] as well, “This guy’s getting a bit rude.” And I said, “You know, man-to-man, I can’t sit here that long for you to keep getting rude.
“So, when people see that, they’ll connect the dots. But because people haven’t seen it, they’ll be like, ‘ooh, he got under his skin’. But when you see it, you’ll think okay, it makes sense. There’s context for that, for sure.”
Hutchinson celebrates the biggest win of his career after beating Craig Richards
Buatsi vs Hutchinson takes place on another Riyadh Season event where Daniel Dubois and Anthony Joshua clash for the IBF heavyweight title in the main event at the home of English football. The addition of the two British light-heavyweights, however, is an undercard bout well worth fans attention.
Hutchinson is something of a young upstart that has upset the balance in the domestic light-heavyweight division. For too long, the talk has always been about Buatsi vs Yarde or Yarde vs Buatsi depending on whose form was hotter.
For too long, the rivals have been nothing more than ‘linked’ to fighting each other but this year a deal appeared close but then Yarde’s relationship with promoter Frank Warren appeared to weaken and the positive chatter went quiet from all sides. And now the all-London match-up is back on the shelf nearing the end of its expiry date.
“That’s the fight that we were all eyeballing,” says Buatsi.
“This one [Hutchinson] came out, and it was a good deal, good offer, good opportunity, so we took it instead.”
Any potential Yarde fight is parked for now. Buatsi doesn’t attach himself to the possibility. There is no emotion whether it happens or not. For now, he has moved on and doesn’t expect to deal with anything else.
“I’ve got a set date and an opponent, so that’s pretty much what I’m fixated on,” he says. “I don’t walk around thinking, ‘Oh, the Yarde fight’. For now it’s Hutchinson that I’ve got to deal with.”
Whether it was his time with Matchroom and fighting on Sky Sports and then DAZN or switching to Boxxer and returning to the British broadcasting juggernaut, Buatsi’s career has always been under the microscope.
Winning the British title in his 10th fight after doing a job on Liam Conroy was the very least he was expected to achieve. But fans and media have demanded more from a fighter who has been tipped for world titles ever since he graced a professional ring.
Five years on from beating Conroy there have been eight fights for Buatsi to get his teeth into. Not that he needed much of a bite to beat most of them. His standout wins have come in three of his last four against Ricard Bolotniks, Craig Richards and Dan Azeez. The long gaps of inactivity have their explanations (Covid, injuries) but Buatsi would have rather fought.
When speaking about these periods of several months without a fight he says, “It’s a period of more complaining and saying, “I want to box again, I want to box again.”
“It’s a period that I kind of say it is what it is, and what can I do? I can keep on training, so that’s pretty much what I end up doing.”
Going to America and training with Virgil Hunter takes him away from the distractions of life in London. Stateside it’s all about boxing and nothing else. When he comes home everything changes and life goes at 100 miles per hour.
“I’ve got a big family. I’ve got so many people that I know. There’s always something to do,” he says.
“I always tell people, if I wanted to stay awake for 24 hours in London, it’s more than possible. There’s always something to do. So when I come out here [America], I sleep on time, I wake up on time.
“When they say have a day off, I actually get to have a day off. So it’s quite nice out here to that extent, and I catch up with people a lot better when I’m away. When I’m in London, it’s non-stop for me.”
Should Buatsi beat Hutchinson then he will once again be knocking on the door for a world title shot. Messrs Beterbiev and Bivol have still not been shifted from the top spots they’ve occupied for a few years but in October one of them will be able to say he is the number one when their rearranged undisputed fight lands in Saudi Arabia.
It would be no exaggeration to say that in 2025 Buatsi must fight for a world title. Whatever his faults, whatever his critics say he remains Britain’s best bet at winning one of the four belts that could eventually separate themselves from the undisputed champion whomever that will be.
Seven years as a professional prizefighter Buatsi is no veteran but it’s enough time to reflect on what has been the biggest lesson he’s learned so far in his career.
“I think everything has to be day by day, but also just remain grateful and humble,” he says.
Joshua Buatsi outboxes Dan Azeez at Wembley Arena (James Chance/Getty Images)
“I’ve seen with boxing, you could be a hero today, and the next day you’re brought back down. I think that’s what the sport has taught me.
“When it’s good, take it. Bad times might come, they may not, but just remain humble and treat everyone the same. And this game that we’re in is only for, what, 10, 15, 20 years? And after that, you’re back to yourself.
“So yeah, don’t let the game change you. That’s one thing I’ve definitely learned from it. That’s one thing I would say that if anything I’ve stuck to. I’ve been how I was before I turned pro. Even now as a pro, I’ve been the same way. I haven’t allowed boxing to change me because this is only for a certain part of my life.
“After that, I’ve still got to go back to my family, my friends, the people that I knew when I was growing up. And if you change up too much, of course change for the better and evolve. But just don’t get too big-headed.”
Some of Buatsi’s best qualities were displayed during and after his fight against Dan Azeez. The storyline to their February clash centred around their friendship and their times sparring one another. It was played down by both men but as the fight got closer the atmosphere became niggly, tense and perhaps would bring about the end of their friendship. After 12 rounds, Buatsi won deservedly by unanimous decision but afterwards he spent more time talking about Azeez, paying him his dues, showing him respect than he did himself.
He won but he also made sure everyone knew about his friend and weeks later they were both photographed having a meal together in Ghana.
Comparing the fight and fight week with Azeez to others Buatsi says, “It was very different. I’d say it’s the one that stood out the most. Just primarily because I was fighting a good friend of mine, somebody that I’ve known for a long time as well. Somebody that I’ve sparred so many rounds with that I was like, you know what, this guy might know everything I’m about to do.
“But we didn’t spar for I think about eight to nine months and, within those months, I developed a lot. So yeah, it was just a whole new challenge, but it was a very interesting one. Something really, really different.
“Usually the people you fight, you’ve never sparred before, you don’t know them. But this was somebody that I knew, somebody that a year before I was going through my photos and I saw it was one of my best friend’s birthday dinner. And there was Dan Azeez and myself in the same picture stood with each other amongst all our friends. So it was a bit awkward, but it was an experience.”
Can fighting a friend ever be enjoyable, though, or is it 36 minutes where all you want to do is get through it so it can be over with.
“I didn’t really enjoy all of that to be fair, just because it’s somebody that I knew,” he replies. “Even now, after the fight’s happened, I try to check up on Dan and stuff like that.
“It’s just unfortunate that he was on a good run and we had to fight each other. But you’ve just got to get on with it and at that time it was either me or him.”
On September 21 only Buatsi or Hutchinson will step closer to a first world title shot. The former says it’s just another fight, another day at the office and the cliches will be heard during fight week but if he gets his hand raised at Wembley it’s difficult to not believe that the ice-cool Buatsi will not feel some satisfaction from beating a man looking to rattle his cage.
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