When Buatsi met Yarde

Joshua Buatsi

JOSHUA BUATSIโ€™S 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. Heโ€™s had a couple of potential dates in September pushed back as well but on Sunday (October 4) heโ€™ll headline on a behind closed doors show in Milton Keynes, taking on unbeaten Croatian Marko Calic.

โ€œItโ€™s happened to a lot of fighters so itโ€™s nothing unusual, itโ€™s just itโ€™s the first time itโ€™s happening to me,โ€ Buatsi tells Boxing News. โ€œWhich is good and bad. Good because then youโ€™re in shape, bad because you have to work out when you peak and when you donโ€™t peak.

โ€œI think all the foundation has been done now in terms of being fit and that so itโ€™s just staying sharp and just making sure again you peak at the right time. Regardless of it Iโ€™ll be good to go.

โ€œMy aim is to not come out and for it to look like this is someone who hasnโ€™t boxed for a year. Thatโ€™s not my aim at all. So hopefully I can come out there and box and look good.โ€

But the Olympic bronze medallist hasnโ€™t lost any of his motivation. “I donโ€™t think my situation is bad at all,” he said. “Thatโ€™s what I always think about things, Iโ€™m not in a bad situation at all no matter what the circumstances.”

“Iโ€™m still motivated, still want to fight, still want to box. Thereโ€™s nothing for me to be discouraged about. Age is on my side. Iโ€™m very positive. The negatives are there [but] training during quarantine was really good for me,โ€ he continued. โ€œIf you make the mistakes, it meant you could take your time to better it.

โ€œMistakes are mistakes, we all make them. We just hope that on fight night, you donโ€™t 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. โ€œI do feel like thereโ€™s an expectation,โ€ he says. โ€œIโ€™m from London, in South London you do what you have to do to get by. It just is what it is, Iโ€™m not saying you should do bad things but weโ€™ve all grown up in an environment and in a situation where weโ€™re all trying to do better. Everyoneโ€™s always trying to do better and thatโ€™s just how life is. So weโ€™re always trying to do better. I wouldnโ€™t say a pressure. I think thereโ€™s an expectation. I do want to do things, where you can [say], โ€˜He 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, โ€˜Oh this guy is a normal geezer, he was able to do it. Heโ€™s done it so I can do it too.โ€™

โ€œAll that expectation is there. I wouldnโ€™t call it pressure, it just is what it is. If I mess up, I mess up. If I donโ€™t, I donโ€™t.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. โ€œWe literally spoke about the current issues thatโ€™s 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 donโ€™t 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 havenโ€™t been told Iโ€™m boxing you within two months, I can meet you, we can go eat if you want, I donโ€™t really care. If I know that Iโ€™m definitely boxing you in two months then thatโ€™s cool, Iโ€™m not going to invite you to KFC,โ€ Buatsi said. โ€œI think I can be normal with anyone on this planet. Itโ€™s only going to change when we have a date that weโ€™re going to fight. Until then I donโ€™t care. I will talk to you. I will help you. If I know Iโ€™m boxing you in two monthsโ€™ time, then it may be a bit different but until then, and Iโ€™m not even boxing him next, so why should I have something against him? Thatโ€™s how I see it.โ€

Both are aware of the social issues beyond their sport. โ€œJust like the instances that happened, our experiences with racism, how we think it can be dealt with. We then spoke about the coronavirus, how itโ€™s 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. โ€œThat was one thing we spoke about as well. Just our views about this whole virus, the incidents thatโ€™s 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?

โ€œThe assumptionโ€™s that those things are happening in America and it doesnโ€™t happen here. But it happens here, like I said, just not in the same format.โ€

โ€œIt was good and positive to see people peacefully protesting. Going about things peacefully,โ€ he continued. โ€œPeacefully saying this is the issue, weโ€™re making noise about it and we want to be heard.

โ€œIโ€™ve experienced racism, Iโ€™ve experienced it beforeโ€ฆ For me I treat everyone the same, whatever colour you are, it doesnโ€™t matter to me. I donโ€™t think anyone is superior to anyone.โ€

Of course the prospect of boxing came up. โ€œWe said the fightโ€™s going to happen, itโ€™s just a matter of when,โ€ Buatsi explained. โ€œPeople want to see it, which is good, but thereโ€™s so much talk about it, youโ€™d think weโ€™d signed to fight each other in 2022 already but we havenโ€™t. No oneโ€™s put pen to paper, nothingโ€™s been said about it. So itโ€™s good that thereโ€™s interest and if it does happen, itโ€™s a win-win. But Iโ€™m not too caught up in this thing. If it happens great, good news, if it doesnโ€™t 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. โ€œIt was a good fight, exciting, high pace, back and forth, a good competitive fight,โ€ the Londoner recalled. โ€œIt 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.

โ€œI noticed with Lyndon and that style the odd punch wasnโ€™t going to work, because heโ€™s clever. Heโ€™s tricky. I was like no, doing this one punch thing wonโ€™t work. It was exciting, a good fight.โ€

โ€œLyndonโ€™s a very good boxer. Heโ€™s someone that I felt had a pro style already in the amateurs so itโ€™ll be interesting. He had that low guard and that pace where he would slow it down,โ€ he added. โ€œIโ€™ve always said heโ€™s 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. โ€œThat was the plan but as we know, 2020โ€™s taken everybody by surprise,โ€ Buatsi said. โ€œEveryoneโ€™s taking different paths. I wonโ€™t sit here and say Iโ€™m getting to world level because I donโ€™t think Iโ€™ve boxed anyone that is world level. So I canโ€™t say anything. Iโ€™ve boxed people that have boxed world level opponents, I donโ€™t think that would give me the token to say Iโ€™m world level. Thatโ€™s not to say I donโ€™t think Iโ€™m good enough for world level but Iโ€™m just being very honest about it. Ryan Ford has boxed some good guys, heโ€™s 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 wouldnโ€™t sit here and be like, yeah Iโ€™m world level based on who Iโ€™ve boxed. In terms of ability – thatโ€™s a different question.โ€

We’ll see the beginnings of an answer to that question on Sunday against Marko Calic.

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