Joshua Buatsi Defeats Willy Hutchinson Despite Bizarre Scorecard

Joshua Buatsi (19-0, 13 KOs) fought a determined Willy Hutchinson (18-2, 13 KOs) and got the win despite a bizarre scorecard from one of the judges.

While one judge had it 113-112 for Hutchinson, the other two saw it 117-108 and 115-110 for Buatsi. With the split decision win, Buatsi now holds an interim version of the WBO light heavyweight title. In theory, this should put him in line to fight for the full title currently held by Artur Beterbiev, who faces Dmitry Bivol on October 12 for undisputed status.

The fight was on the undercard of the Anthony Joshua vs. Daniel Dubois heavyweight world title contest at Wembley Stadium in London, England. Boxing fans could catch the action as a pay-per-view on DAZN and PPV.com. Those in the United Kingdom could also do so with Sky Sports and TNT Sports.

Joshua vs. Dubois is part of Riyadh Season, a Saudi Arabian state-funded entertainment and sports festival. The Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority is responsible for its organization.

Joshua Buatsi Defeats Willy Hutchinson

Fight Recap

Both fighters were active in the early rounds, throwing combinations but not landing anything that bothered the other. Buatsi pressed forward while his opponent was content with staying on the back foot. Hutchinson was also switching stances, something he would do till the final bell.

In round six, Buatsi landed a series of shots to the body that sent Hutchinson to the canvas. Till that point, the action had been stop-start with neither having a very dominant round. Before the knockdown, Buatsi also landed a right hand that stunned Hutchinson, allowing the Olympic bronze medalist to follow up with punches to the body.

Buatsi continued landing to the body in the seventh, including an overhand right to the head, but the Scottish fighter was able to come back with shots of his own. However, the Scotsman was deducted a point for using his head – something that allowed Buatsi to have a comeback.

Hutchinson went down again from a left hand to the body in a wild round nine. The round began with Buatsi hurting his opponent before the Scotsman responded with smart shots. However, like round seven, Buatsi turned things around and eventually got the knockdown.

Although he was dropped twice already in the fight, Hutchinson was able to make it to the end of the twelfth and did not make things easy. It appeared by the final bell, however, that Buatsi had done more than enough to get the win. Somehow, one judge scored the contest in favour of Hutchinson. Despite that, the other two judges saw Buatsi winning and he wound up winning a split decision.