Joshua Buatsi’s Long Road to a WBC Light Heavyweight Title Shot

Joshua Buatsi’s title opportunity has arrived a decade after his Olympic breakthrough, by a route marked by a first professional defeat, a disputed win and a rematch with a familiar opponent. The 33-year-old Londoner now meets Willy Hutchinson for the vacant WBC light heavyweight championship at Manchester’s AO Arena.

Buatsi, 20-1 with 13 knockouts, expected to reach this point sooner. After taking bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics, he was widely tipped to be among the first from Team GB’s boxing squad to become a world champion. Instead, former teammates Lawrence Okolie, Josh Kelly and Joe Cordina reached that level while his own progress stretched out.

“It's been a marathon, whereas I thought it was going to be a sprint at the beginning,” Buatsi told BoxingScene, comparing the longer professional rounds with the three-round amateur format. He says his record gives him little reason to dwell on the delays: “I've won 20 out of 21 fights and now fighting for the world title, what do I have to complain about? Nothing.”

A title chance shaped by setbacks

Buatsi accepts that a championship opportunity could have come earlier. He also sees value in its timing now. “Could it have come earlier? Probably. Would I have wanted it to have come earlier? Probably. But there's no timing like now, so I feel everything's lined up for how it should be,” he said.

One earlier opening was a proposed bout with WBA champion Dmitry Bivol. Buatsi faced criticism for declining it, but says the terms attached to the offer were not ones he was prepared to accept. Looking back, he remains convinced he made the right choice.

His path took a harder turn in 2025, when Callum Smith handed Buatsi his first professional loss and took his WBO interim title. The defeat appeared to push a world title shot further away. Then David Benavidez moved to cruiserweight, leaving the WBC light heavyweight belt vacant.

“When I lost the interim, I thought, ‘Damn, I've lost the interim, so where's this title going to come from?’” Buatsi said. The vacancy opened a route to the championship he had been pursuing.

Hutchinson brings a different challenge

Buatsi has already beaten Hutchinson, winning their first meeting unanimously two years ago after dropping him twice. But their careers have moved on since then. Hutchinson has since collected wins over Mark Jeffers and Ezra Taylor, while Buatsi lost to Smith in a punishing fight and then edged Zach Parker in a bout that drew controversy.

Buatsi’s view of the Parker result is straightforward: the official win matters. “Even if it was by one point or half a point, I won. And that's all that matters in this game,” he said.

Hutchinson may take heart from that performance, and has argued that the 12-round loss to Smith could have worn Buatsi down. Buatsi rejects that reading. He says both men have endured hard fights, and points to Hutchinson’s own difficult nights when challenging the idea that one bout can define what either fighter has left.

“I was in a hard fight, but I wouldn't say that it took it out of me,” Buatsi said of the Smith bout. He also acknowledged that neither boxer is the same fighter who met two years ago. Hutchinson has had time to adjust after being dropped twice, and Buatsi expects his own development to show in the rematch.

“A lot could change in two years,” he said. “I would have learned a lot and improved, and so would he.” Buatsi believes the work he has done will be clearer against Hutchinson than it was in his latest outing. The title fight will test whether those changes can turn a long-awaited opportunity into a championship.