Buatsi – A Class Above!

Joshua Buatsi clamied victory in an enthralling Light-Heavyweight World Title Final Elliminator on Saturday night.

From the first bell both men had a look in their eyes that meant business. Buatsi is usually quite a serious character anyway and Azeez, wearing the unmistakable colours of Marvelous Marvin Hagler, wasn’t about to take a backwards step. Their friendship was clearly on hold for the next 36 minutes of Boxing.

Azeez was doing his upmost to push Buatsi back through every round but Buatsi was able to find the gaps in Azeez’s defence. Any concern that Buatsi’s inactivity might play a part was short lived as very early on his started landing short, crunching left hooks and finding the body in an attempt to lure Azeez in to bringing his hands down.

There was a crispness to Buatsi’s punches that Azeez simply couldn’t match. He was constantly busy and trying to move forward but never seemed to have the snap or technique in his punches to hurt Buatsi.

Both fighters voiced their concerns to referee at different points of the fight about a slippiness to certain areas of the canvas. Then in the 11^th round Azeez was dropped heavily on two occasions. Both seemed to be caused by punches to the side of the head but it was clear that his feet had disappeared beneath him from the slippery surface. The knockdowns were given, however, to further dent Azeez’s already trailing scorecards.

By the end of Azeez had the look of a beaten man, staggering backwards in the last round with his hands down he looked all but finished. I sensed Buatsi could’ve and probably should’ve smelt blood and gone in for the kill but, maybe wary of punching himself out, and possibly knowing he was already some way ahead on the cards he eased off. The clapper signalled the last 10secs of the final round and both guys planted their feet in the centre of the ring for one last exchange of punches! As the final bell rang out they embraced, a look of satisfaction on the face of Buatsi and a look of relief that it was over on the face of Azeez.

In terms of our predictions we were all right to some degree in tipping Buatsi for the victory. Matt was spot on with his ‘unanimous’ prediction but hit the nail on the head Russ even managing to call the knockdowns too:

“I’m not entirely sure that Buatsi can knock him out, I’d back Buatsi to win on points, possibly with a couple of knockdowns on the way!”

Spooky!

On the night there was another good victory for Ben Whitaker in his 6th fight. He was clearly a level above his opponent and his defence looked excellent as he slipped and slided past shots before spinning away from the ropes. He was, however, continuously warned by the referee for his excessive showboating, something he will have to temper as he moves up to face better opponents.

Adam Azim also secured a victory after his opponent, Enock Poulsen, suffered a dislocated shoulder in the 5th round. Azim looked sharp once again. I did think that performing a backflip/somersault celebration after your opponent has suffered a clear and unfortunate injury was somewhat excessive! But Azim later backtracked, claiming he wasn’t aware of the injury at the time!!!

To conclude let’s hop back to Buatsi and Azeez. Where both fighters go from here is hard to tell. Eddie Hearn announced on his social media this weekend that Bivol v Beterbiev is locked in for June 1st so a lot of what happens in the Light-Heavyweight division will pivot on the outcome of that fight. I’d still like to see Buatsi in with Yarde and I think that fight still sells really well in the UK. I’d slightly favour Yarde at this stage, I think! For Azeez to get back in the mix whilst approaching 35 years of age is a big ask. I think a good fight for him is Ben Whitaker! But I seriously doubt Ben Shalom and the folks at Boxxer would throw Whitaker at that level in only his 7th fight… who knows, stranger things have happened!

Thanks for reading Catch & Counter Boxing!

Cheers,

Dean