Joshua Buatsi vs Craig Richards – Results & Post-Fight Report

The O2 Arena in London was the setting for a South London derby, and it was Joshua Buatsi who won the WBA light heavyweight title eliminator with a pulsating points win over Craig Richards.

2016 Olympic Bronze medallist Buatsi was coming off an impressive eleventh round stoppage of Ricards Bolotniks last August, while Richards pushed WBA light heavyweight champion Dimitry Bivol close in a points loss last May, before stopping Marek Matyja in six rounds in his last outing in October last year.

Buatsi made a swift start off a busy jab, and opened up towards the end of the first frame, pinning Richards on the ropes before unloading. That attack seemed to give Buatsi confidence, and he opened the second with another attack that stiffened the legs of ’Spider’. although Richards tagged the Croydon man with an uppercut and held his own in the exchanges. A Buatsi jab snapped Richards’ neck back in the third, but the Crystal Palace native landed with a sharp right hook in what was a close session. Richards was putting his punches together nicely, and the duo frantically exchanged at the end of the fourth round, but Buatsi was slightly the more accurate. Buatsi’s jab was superb, and he piled on the pressure in the fifth with a variety of punches, but he exerted a lot of energy in doing so, yet cranked up the pressure once more a round later, with Richards doing well to take the shots coming his way.

The pace slowed in the seventh, and the eighth was quiet too, until Richards connected with another right uppercut that got Buatsi’s attention, and he fired back with a volley of punches, with both men seemingly buzzed at the end of the session. Going into the championship rounds, Richards was growing in confidence, but Buatsi again went for broke in round ten with a two fisted assault. The penultimate frame was close quarters stuff, and although he looked as if he was clearly ahead going into the final round, Buatsi didn’t rest on his laurels, landing with several chopping right hands as the bout went to the scorecards with both men swinging.

Two scores of 115-113 and a third at 116-112 sealed the win for Buatsi.

On the undercard, world title action came at super lightweight, and unified WBC and IBF champion Chantelle Cameron produced a commanding display, winning all ten rounds on all three judges scorecards against former world champion, Victoria Noelia Bustos. Cameron was in control throughout, and rarely troubled as she moved closer to fighting for undisputed honours.

Alen Babic haș designs on a world title shot at bridgerweight, and the Croatian took the vacant WBC Silver belt, but was dropped and taken the distance for the first time in a bruising points win over Adam Balski.

Babic was down within the opening 30 seconds from a chopping left hook from the Pole, but after surviving the count, the bout turned into an all out brawl. Babic rebounded well, but was caught by a right hand a fraction after the bell that seriously hurt him at the end of the ninth, and a point was deducted from Balski as a result. Balski pushed to press home the advantage, and there were wild exchanges in the final round as the fight went to the cards. Two scores of 97-91, and a third at 95-93 gave Babic victory.

Robbie Davies Jr’s first defence of his WBA Continental super lightweight title was a successful one, but the Liverpudlian was lacklustre in a split decision win over ten rounds against Javier Molina. It was a stop-start affair, but Davies was buzzed a few times in the contest. The judges gave Davies two tallies of 96-94, which rendered a third verdict of 97-94 for Molina redundant.

Catford’s Ellie Scotney defended her WBA Intercontinental super bantamweight title for a first time, seeing off former world champion Maria Cecilia Roman in a dominant points triumph. Scotney took the win by scores of 100-90, and two verdicts of 99-91.

Cyrus Pattinson was in his first scheduled eight rounder, but he only needed inside three rounds to stop Dimitri Trenel at welterweight. Trenel was down during the round, and his corner eventually threw the towel in.

John Hedges remained unbeaten, and took his sixth professional win with a third round stoppage of Robert Baltaru at light heavyweight. Baltaru was down prior to the stoppage.

Cheavon Clarke impressed again, with the 2020 Olympian scoring a third round stoppage of Pawel Martyniuk to move to 2-0.

Shiloh Defreitas is a name to keep tabs on, and the welterweight dropped Ilyan Markov in the sixth and final round on the way to taking a 60-54 points win.