Joshua Buatsi could be on the road to greatness, everyone loves watching Alen Babic and people are accusing Josh Taylor of ducking a fight against Alberto Puello.
Those are just some of the talking points this week from Saturday’s fight night in London and elsewhere in the world of boxing.
Who’s next for Buatsi?
Joshua Buatsi and Craig Richards reminded boxing fans of the value of a domestic settler, with a classic fight at the O2 Arena, London on Saturday.
Both fighters played their part, but Buatsi got the win on the night by unanimous points decision.
After all was said and done, both men showed a lot of respect to one another.
“It couldn’t have been a great fight without Spider [Richards] so maximum respect to him,” Buatsi told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“I finished strong but credit to Joshua,” said Richards.
“A hell of a fighter. I should say thank God for this occasion, thanks to Josh, a good dance partner.”
There was a lot of love online afterwards for both men too.
Buatsi, a 2016 Olympic bronze medallist, has now won all 16 of his fights since turning professional in 2017.
Saturday’s win could pave the way for a light-heavyweight world-title shot for the 29-year-old South Londoner.
Babic is pure, savage entertainment
Arguably the fight of the night at the O2 Arena on Saturday was the WBC Silver Bridgerweight title bout between Alen Babic and Adam Balski.
What the fight may have lacked in craft, it certainly made up for in wild entertainment. At times this looked less like a professional fight, more like something you might see of a weekend at a late night takeaway in any city centre around the country.
Croatia’s Babic was on the floor within the first 20 seconds of round one but rallied to land some brutal shots after that. Poland’s Balski somehow stayed on his feet, but Babic got the win on points.
Either way, viewers were given good value.
Cameron doesn’t want to waste more time
Northampton-born Chantelle Cameron retained her WBC, IBF and Ring Magazine light-welterweight belts with a points victory over Victoria Bustos on Saturday.
The 31-year-old could now face WBO champion Kali Reis in an undisputed bout.
She’s not interested in hanging around.
Cameron said that she “fell off the radar” after beating Mary McGee in October and is impatient for a big fight. A win against Reis could pave the way for that.
Not everyone is sympathetic with her plight, however.
Wedding clashers
The WBA announced last week that Josh Taylor has been stripped of his WBA light-welterweight belt after failing to make a mandatory defence against Dominican Alberto Puello.
Taylor won the belt against Regis Progais in 2019 and defended it against Jack Catterall in February.
However, the Scot says he wasn’t able to honour the Puello bout – because it clashes with his wedding and honeymoon.
Some are accusing him of ducking a clash with Puello, who is unbeaten in 20 fights.
Others are a bit more sympathetic.
That’s not in the diet plan
And finally, newly crowned undisputed light-middleweight world champion Jermell Charlo celebrated his 32nd birthday last week. He toasted it in understated fashion.
Charlo knocked out Argentina’s Brian Castano earlier this month to take Castano’s WBO belt. He already held the WBC, WBA and IBF light-middleweight belts.
Reason enough to celebrate.
