By Shaun Brown
THE fighters who played their part in helping Queensberry Promotions beat Matchroom 10-0 at the inaugural 5 vs 5 event all had something to prove but perhaps none more than Willy Hutchinson.
Hamzah Sheeraz was already a world middleweight title contender, Nick Ball should arguably already have been a world featherweight champion, Daniel Dubois was a top 10 heavyweight and Zhilei Zhang held two wins over Joe Joyce. But the name of Willy Hutchinson was known to everyone as just a light-heavyweight talent who was yet to back it up.
His humbling British title defeat to Lennox Clarke in 2021 brought echoes of an over-confident David Haye enduring defeat at the fists of Carl Thompson 20 years ago. However, in the three years that followed, โThe Hayemakerโ won the European cruiserweight title and became a unified world champion.
Hutchinsonโs career hadnโt received anywhere near that kind of success until June 1 when he handily defeated former world title challenger Craig Richards on points in a coming-of-age performance which the Scot desperately needed.
Boxing News caught up with Hutchinson over Zoom while he sat in his car, having visited Tesco per his wifeโs instructions. Normality had returned to a life that was lit up a couple of weeks earlier in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
But before the conversation beganโฆ
โWell, am I looking alright? How am I looking?โ
Hutchinson is a confident, mischievous 25-year-old who wants you to take him as he is. Once he was happy with how he looked in his rearview mirror, BN asked him how his life had been since his world-class performance against Richards.
โItโs been good. Iโve never stopped sleeping,โ he replies.
โWhen I first come back, I felt ill, I didnโt feel good at all for the first three or four days. I never got out of bed. Over the weekend, I went for a walk and had a bit of food. I went to a spa but I was still coming out in bruises on my body and my legs were very sore but now I feel very good.โ
As far as he is concerned, the win against Richards belongs in the past, and itโs time to move on. He also continued his personal choice not to watch any of his fights back, but he has seen the amount of praise and compliments he rightly received for the way he beat his opponent.
โAnd Iโm grateful for everything,โ he says. โIโve been through a bit in my life the last couple of years. The nicest thing of everything from everyone is appreciating me now and everyone can see my personality. Iโm not a bad person and I donโt claim to be a bad person. I only try and do my best in everything I can do.โ
But why did he specifically make reference to not being a โbad personโ?
โThereโs some people before that tried to say Iโm a bad personโฆ I donโt knowโฆ itโs just not me.โ
Hutchinsonโs answers shift between the discussion at hand to something unexpected. The jokes, his light-hearted nature, his take it or leave it attitude are all part of what make him who he is but there are hints that life has been his greatest challenge over the last couple of years.
During his post-fight interview at the Kingdom Arena, he made reference to this but left it at that. In other interviews with the media, he has done similar which is out of respect for loved ones.
โItโs been family stuff,โ he tells BN.
โIโve been through stuff myself but itโs been family stuff [and] Iโd rather notโฆ Iโd sooner not talk about if thatโs okay.โ
Itโs a request full of respect and one we agree to in full and decide not to press further on what exactly has gone on. Whatever the events of the last two years, they have gone a long way to shaping the man he is today.
โItโs the changed the person that I am; how I think and how I am and probably made me more determined than anything,โ he says.
โWhen youโre traumatised, youโre never really the same. You go one way or the other. The way Iโve took it is itโs given me strength and I believe God put the right people in my life to help me. My Granny, my coach, my managerโฆ people in my lifeโฆ I couldnโt have done all this myself, I couldnโt have. And I believe God people put the right people in my life to help me and make me stronger.โ
His career is also in a far stronger position because of his 18th career victory. But in the 10th round against Richards โ a three-minute session that will go down as one of the best of 2024 โ the Scotsman decide to have a tear-up.
Having controlled the majority of the contest, Hutchinson chose to take a risk but the back-and-forth edge of the seat action finally gave Richards a chance of winning and, at one stage, he looked as though he could produce a stunning comeback and stop Hutchinson but Frank Warrenโs man survived.
So, why did he decide to take that risk when you are on a clear path to a wide points victory?
โItโs a risk me coming to Tescoโs right now,โ he answers.
โItโs a risk waking up every morning going to do whatever youโre gonna do. It all depends on that moment in time of how youโre feeling and what you think. Whatever you think is best for you, you do. You could see me in my next fight and I could fight completely different to how I fought in that fight and not make one mistake.โ
Richardsโ old dance partner Joshua Buatsi could be next in line for Hutchinson. Two days after the events of Riyadh the WBO ordered the two British light-heavyweights to contest their interim strap. The public had hoped Buatsi would face long-time rival Anthony Yarde but that now looks on its way to becoming a mirage in a Saudi Arabian desert.
โI want everything,โ Hutchinson says about a fight against Buatsi. โHeโs a good strong operator but heโs not good enough to beat me.
โThe bigger and better the fight is, is what exactly Willy Hutchinson wants and I believe Iโm ready to show that. You see that fight I just had that would have made me grow 10 per cent more because I done things in that fight Iโve never done. Iโve done it in the gym, Iโve been doing it all my life.ย
โIt wasnโt just the fight where I boxed well, youโre forgetting Iโve never done 12 rounds in my life. Heโs the best Iโve boxed as a professional. I boxed, I stood and had a fight, changed things up, now itโs all in the memory bank. Iโll tell you one thing I did and itโll make you laugh. I climbed a mountain in Spain once and I believe once you do something once, no matter how you feel again, youโll always do it because youโve done it that time. Itโs in the memory bank.
โSo, I climbed this mountain in Spain, I ended up taking heat stroke. I got to the bottom, 500 metres away from the car feeling not good. I poured water over my head and left it in the sun.ย
โAnd, just before I get to the car, I took heat stroke. Itโs funny in that way [laughs]. Iโve done it three times since as if it was nothing. As mad as it sounds, I get what I mean [laughs].โ
Whether itโs Spanish mountains, personal problems or taking on the biggest night of his career, Hutchinson has survived and become a better man and a better fighter for it. Bigger tests await where his love for risk-taking will have to come with more method than madness. But, for now, Willy Hutchinson is savouring every moment of his life and everything that goes with it.
โIf Iโm not enjoying it then what am I doing all this for? I stayed in camp for two months. I came home on two weekends in six months, thatโs a lot. If Iโm doing all that, how can you go and do something youโre not enjoying. I want to enjoy all of it. As stupid as it sounds, Iโve enjoyed my sleeping, Iโve enjoyed being home and Iโve enjoyed my wife making my food.
โThe ups and downs have been [already]. I believe all of this has come at a time where I can handle it.โ