Joshua Buatsi returned to the ring tonight after nearly a year away. The Londoner got back to work tonight against Poland’s Pawel Stepien at the Resorts World Arena, Birmingham. It was Buasti’s first fight under new Promoter Ben Shalom of Boxxer, a fighter he worked very hard to sign.
A very public fallout with Eddie Hearn and Matchroom saw Buatsi jump ship just 6 weeks ago. The Olympic bronze medalist had a wish to fight on Sky Sports, which came true this evening.
Britain’s Buatsi got his win over the 10 round distance with no belt on the line. The scorecards read: 100-90, 98-92 and 97-94 for the home fighter.
In typical Buatsi fashion he started methodically behind his jab, throwing the right at times, but never over extending. Stepien was trying to line up the big right hand and break the guard of his opponent. He landed late in the round twice, once upstairs and once downstairs.
The 2nd round saw an uptick in action from both men. Stepien began to force the action but it would prove costly, as Buatsi sent Stepien stumbling to the ropes after a flurry of punches. It was probably the most excitement we saw all evening from Buatsi.
There was not too much to report in terms of fight action. Round 3 saw the action turn a little quiet again. It was not the best fight to watch especially after a very good undercard, the two fighters just didn’t gel all evening. Stepien’s output almost ceased to exist in the second half of the fight. Buatsi was content to control him with the jab, but never letting any power shots go.
Round 9 did bring the 5000 in attendance some joy. Buatsi landed more variety with an uppercut which saw Stepien respond with a left hook and swinging right hand, it was met by a ramrod jab snapping Stepien’s head back.
Round 10 saw Buatsi stalk Stepien who tucked up into his guard for the final round. Buatsi improves to 17-0 (13 KOs) with Stepien picking up his first career defeat, his record moves to 18-1-1 (12 KOs).
A quite bizarre turn of events saw the bout moved from 12 to 10 rounds on the day of the fight. When quizzed on the matter, Buatsi stated “I said [to them] there is not a title on the line. There was nothing at stake! So why am I doing 12 for? If there was something on the line of course we will do 12 championship rounds.”
