JOSHUA BUATSIโS life over the last 12 months has been a constant, rolling training camp. He was due to box in November but illness forced him out of that bout. The show he would have appeared on in March was cancelled due to the coronavirus lockdown. Heโs had a couple of potential dates in September pushed back as well but on Sunday (October 4) heโll headline on a behind closed doors show in Milton Keynes, taking on unbeaten Croatian Marko Calic.
โItโs happened to a lot of fighters so itโs nothing unusual, itโs just itโs the first time itโs happening to me,โ Buatsi tells Boxing News. โWhich is good and bad. Good because then youโre in shape, bad because you have to work out when you peak and when you donโt peak.
โI think all the foundation has been done now in terms of being fit and that so itโs just staying sharp and just making sure again you peak at the right time. Regardless of it Iโll be good to go.
โMy aim is to not come out and for it to look like this is someone who hasnโt boxed for a year. Thatโs not my aim at all. So hopefully I can come out there and box and look good.โ
But the Olympic bronze medallist hasnโt lost any of his motivation. “I donโt think my situation is bad at all,” he said. “Thatโs what I always think about things, Iโm not in a bad situation at all no matter what the circumstances.”
“Iโm still motivated, still want to fight, still want to box. Thereโs nothing for me to be discouraged about. Age is on my side. Iโm very positive. The negatives are there [but] training during quarantine was really good for me,โ he continued. โIf you make the mistakes, it meant you could take your time to better it.
โMistakes are mistakes, we all make them. We just hope that on fight night, you donโt make them as much.โ
So far in his professional career Buatsi has made few of them. He conducts himself well outside of the ropes too. โI do feel like thereโs an expectation,โ he says. โIโm from London, in South London you do what you have to do to get by. It just is what it is, Iโm not saying you should do bad things but weโve all grown up in an environment and in a situation where weโre all trying to do better. Everyoneโs always trying to do better and thatโs just how life is. So weโre always trying to do better. I wouldnโt say a pressure. I think thereโs an expectation. I do want to do things, where you can [say], โHe was as normal as you are and he was able to make something out of his life, out of the sport that he was in. So he done it, so you can do it too.โ You want people to think, โOh this guy is a normal geezer, he was able to do it. Heโs done it so I can do it too.โ
โAll that expectation is there. I wouldnโt call it pressure, it just is what it is. If I mess up, I mess up. If I donโt, I donโt.โ
He has a ready-made rival east London’s Anthony Yarde, who challenged Sergey Kovalev for the WBO light-heavyweight world title last year. The two, who do have different promoters, are often linked but neither has indulged themselves particularly in lobbing barbs or trading trashtalk with the other. The two in fact met recently. โWe literally spoke about the current issues thatโs been going on, that are still going on, about the Black Lives Matter situations, that have happened and are still happening to this day. Mainly it came up because a lot of people kept asking to do an interview with myself and him about it. So I hit him up, I said we donโt need to have a middleman. I know you anyway, you know me, so why do we need a mediator? We kind of met up, discussed it. It was quite straightforward, there was no mediator. It was a good meeting actually. Inevitably we did speak about fighting. If I havenโt been told Iโm boxing you within two months, I can meet you, we can go eat if you want, I donโt really care. If I know that Iโm definitely boxing you in two months then thatโs cool, Iโm not going to invite you to KFC,โ Buatsi said. โI think I can be normal with anyone on this planet. Itโs only going to change when we have a date that weโre going to fight. Until then I donโt care. I will talk to you. I will help you. If I know Iโm boxing you in two monthsโ time, then it may be a bit different but until then, and Iโm not even boxing him next, so why should I have something against him? Thatโs how I see it.โ
Both are aware of the social issues beyond their sport. โJust like the instances that happened, our experiences with racism, how we think it can be dealt with. We then spoke about the coronavirus, how itโs affected us as individuals and our families. As we know on his side it was quite heavy, he lost a grandparent and his dad in the space of two weeks. So I messaged him and a few days later I had to message him again,โ Joshua said. โThat was one thing we spoke about as well. Just our views about this whole virus, the incidents thatโs happening in America but also to say that these things happen in England, maybe not in that same format but they do happen in this country and what we think about it. Could it be solved? Could it be solved in this generation, in this life time of ours?
โThe assumptionโs that those things are happening in America and it doesnโt happen here. But it happens here, like I said, just not in the same format.โ
โIt was good and positive to see people peacefully protesting. Going about things peacefully,โ he continued. โPeacefully saying this is the issue, weโre making noise about it and we want to be heard.
โIโve experienced racism, Iโve experienced it beforeโฆ For me I treat everyone the same, whatever colour you are, it doesnโt matter to me. I donโt think anyone is superior to anyone.โ
Of course the prospect of boxing came up. โWe said the fightโs going to happen, itโs just a matter of when,โ Buatsi explained. โPeople want to see it, which is good, but thereโs so much talk about it, youโd think weโd signed to fight each other in 2022 already but we havenโt. No oneโs put pen to paper, nothingโs been said about it. So itโs good that thereโs interest and if it does happen, itโs a win-win. But Iโm not too caught up in this thing. If it happens great, good news, if it doesnโt happen, my career carries on, so does his.โ
Yarde looks to be on course to fight Lyndon Arthur next. The Mancunian is an opponent Buatsi knows well; they fought one other as amateurs in the final of the ABA championships. โIt was a good fight, exciting, high pace, back and forth, a good competitive fight,โ the Londoner recalled. โIt was back and forth. It wasn’t like a one sided thing, it was a back and forth fight. I guess that night, that time I came out on top.
โI noticed with Lyndon and that style the odd punch wasnโt going to work, because heโs clever. Heโs tricky. I was like no, doing this one punch thing wonโt work. It was exciting, a good fight.โ
โLyndonโs a very good boxer. Heโs someone that I felt had a pro style already in the amateurs so itโll be interesting. He had that low guard and that pace where he would slow it down,โ he added. โIโve always said heโs got a good pro style already. Them two fighters stylistically will be a good fight because I feel Lyndon will try to keep it long and Yarde again will try to close him down and work at closer range so that will be interesting. It will be very interesting.โ
Buatsi wants to move up the world rankings, though in Britain his targets would be Anthony Yarde and Callum Johnson. He had intended to box Johnson this year. Even that could be difficult to make. โThat was the plan but as we know, 2020โs taken everybody by surprise,โ Buatsi said. โEveryoneโs taking different paths. I wonโt sit here and say Iโm getting to world level because I donโt think Iโve boxed anyone that is world level. So I canโt say anything. Iโve boxed people that have boxed world level opponents, I donโt think that would give me the token to say Iโm world level. Thatโs not to say I donโt think Iโm good enough for world level but Iโm just being very honest about it. Ryan Ford has boxed some good guys, heโs boxed some good people and a few other names, [Marco Antonio] Periban was inactive for two years and bit old but he fought for a world title before. It depends how you look at it but I wouldnโt sit here and be like, yeah Iโm world level based on who Iโve boxed. In terms of ability – thatโs a different question.โ
We’ll see the beginnings of an answer to that question on Sunday against Marko Calic.