There were a few nervy moments at the end of Joshua Buatsi’s split decision victory over Willy Hutchinson when it was unclear that the Londoner had won.
After a split verdict was announced, an incredulous Buatsi – looking shellshocked – appeared petrified that he had not done enough, despite flooring the Scotsman in the sixth and ninth rounds. Hutchinson also had a point deducted.
One judge – Grzegorz Molenda – scored for Hutchinson by 113-112, but two judges got it right, with a 117-108 (Salvador Salvas, matching my card) and 115-110 (Howard Foster).
It was a good fight, and it got better as it went on.
Buatsi, now 19-0 (13 KOs), produced a solid performance and Hutchinson did not dazzle with the same brand of magic he delivered against Craig Richards in June.
Hutchinson, now 18-2 (13KOs), made a fast start, using his quick hands and variety to present Buatsi with problems to solve. Hutchinson, by then bleeding by his left, also switched stances as Buatsi took a look at what was in front of him.
Buatsi dipped low to let go a couple of right hands over the top in the second but both were trying to think and feint their way in rather than kick the door in.
Referee Steve Grey warned Buatsi for coming in with his head and told off Hutchinson for use of the elbow.
The action felt stop-start. Neither wanted to take risks but that came at the expense of action and in the fifth there was blood from Hutchinson’s right eye following an accidental headclash. Buatsi scored with some good jabs, but a busy Hutchinson spell with about 30 seconds remaining in the session might have earned him a typically tight round.
Everything changed in the sixth, however. Hutchinson, retreating with his hands down, found himself on the end of the right hand and with Buatsi following in Hutchinson went down. Buatsi had dispatched several hurtful shots downstairs.
Hutchinson tried to battle back in the next and was working well but referee Grey docked him a point for using the head and, in the best round of the fight, the Londoner crashed home a big overhand right.
Buatsi did not neglect working the Scottish fighter’s body and when he took Hutchinson to the ropes, he let his hands go to the torso and head.
With 15 seconds left in the round, there was a gap in the action when the Wembley lights went out, but it was only a brief pause before the lights went back on and the action resumed.
Hutchinson might have been tagged and dropped, but he was always in it, seemingly never more than a combination from turning things around or at least snapping Buatsi’s momentum.
With 30 seconds left in the ninth, Hutchinson was again down. Buatsi had twice landed rights into the pit of the Scot’s belly and when he thudded in another shot, shovelling a left into the gut, the Scot wilted and went down.
Hutchinson made it back to his feet and saw out the final seconds of the session.
He remained brave in the 10th. Buatsi was still throwing lead jabs into the body and Hutchinson was understandably wary of taking more punches to his mid-section.
Early in the 11th, Buatsi made an early breakthrough and upped his output. Hutchinson was forced to hold but he remained defiant, spitting back lefts and rights and still landing clean shots of his own.
Both opened the 12th as if the outcome depended upon it, but the structured fundamentals of Buatsi gave him a look of greater control and poise than the flashy single blows of “The Hutch Train.”
With a minute to go, the pace slowed and the final moments involved clinching and mauling. Both celebrated at the bell but it was Buatsi’s hand that was raised.
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