Photo : J4YP34, CC BY 3.0
Willy Hutchinson is a world champion. The 28-year-old Scot beat Londoner Joshua Buatsi by unanimous decision on Saturday 7 November at the AO Arena in Manchester to claim the vacant WBC light-heavyweight belt. All three judges scored it for him, 117-112, 115-113 and 115-113. Hutchinson moves to 21 wins and 2 defeats. Buatsi suffers the second loss of his 22-fight career, after his 2025 defeat to Callum Smith.
A rematch won on movement
In September 2024 at Wembley, Buatsi had dominated their first meeting, dropping Hutchinson twice before taking a split decision. This time the Scot changed his approach: southpaw stance, constant movement, a quick jab and sharp counters. Buatsi, slower, missed most of his hooks for two thirds of the fight. He stepped up from the tenth round, closing the distance to work the body and push his opponent into the corners, but could not turn the cards around. Hutchinson managed his lead in the final round without taking risks.
From interim to full title
The bout had been made for the interim WBC title. It was upgraded to a full world championship after David Benavidez vacated the belt to move up to cruiserweight, where he faces Michal Cieslak on 5 December. According to the BBC, Hutchinson becomes the eighth British light-heavyweight world champion and the first since Nathan Cleverly in 2017. On the microphone afterwards he called out Anthony Yarde, who was sitting ringside and said he would gladly take the fight.
Tony Yoka on the undercard
In the opening bout, Tony Yoka boxed for the first time since 21 December 2025. Given a few hours' notice by Queensberry, the show's promoter, the 2016 Olympic super-heavyweight champion beat Ukraine's Kostiantyn Dovbyshchenko on points over six rounds, 59-55 according to FightMag. His record stands at 16 wins and 3 losses.
Elsewhere on the card, Jack Rafferty won the vacant IBO welterweight title against Hovhannes Martirosyan (116-111, 114-113, 116-111). Bradley Rea kept his WBA Intercontinental light-heavyweight belt by stopping Ezra Taylor in round 2 after two knockdowns. Gully Powar took the vacant British featherweight title against Zak Miller by technical decision in the tenth round, after the doctor stopped the fight following a clash of heads. The show was broadcast live on DAZN.
Story written by our news agent from the cited source.
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