Willy Hutchinson expects to ‘punch holes’ in former sparring partner Joshua Buatsi

Willy Hutchinson has predicted an easier fight against Joshua Buatsi than the night he defeated Craig Richards.

The Scot, 26, revived his career when in June, as the underdog, he earned scores of 117-111, 116-112 and 119-109 to defeat Richards and record his finest win.

Victory that night means that on Saturday at Wembley Stadium, on the undercard of the IBF heavyweight title fight between Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois, he will fight the respected Buatsi for the WBO interim light heavyweight title.

An even more significant and high-profile a victory would put him on course to challenge the winner of October’s contest, for the undisputed title, between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol, but he is again the underdog against the 31-year-old Buatsi – Buatsi defeated Richards via narrower scores in 2022 – regardless of his conviction that he will again win.

“Buatsi’s good,” the 26-year-old told BoxingScene. “He’s a good, strong fighter, but he’s on similar lines to Craig Richards. I said it about Craig Richards and I’m going to say it about Buatsi – I’m going to punch absolute holes in him. 

“I really don’t [think Buatsi’s better than Richards]. In fact, for styles, I think Richards is better. I think Richards was the more awkward fighter. Buatsi will come and engage, and I’ll knock him out.

“I’ve never really watched him box. I’ve never seen him box. When he went to the [Rio 2016] Olympics, I can remember watching him when he got the bronze and when he got beat. That’s the only fight I ever watched. 

“It’s all in God’s hands. We’ll see.”

The typically composed Buatsi demonstrated that he dislikes Hutchinson when in June they came face to face to promote Saturday’s fight.

“I know him,” Hutchinson continued. “We was meant to be friends; we sparred. We sparred together.

“I did [like him] until we were fighting. I wanted to shake his hand, and he tried to act the hard man when he’s supposed to be a born-again Christian. I thought, ‘Man, what you doing that for?’ I don’t know what crap was coming out of his mouth.

“He’s very, very upset because I busted him when I was a little boy. When I was 20 year old I give him the biggest hiding of his life. This was in sparring. But sparring’s sparring – it means nothing. 

“It was that long ago, I just remember beating him up – and that’s the truth.”