Willy Hutchinson says Joshua Buatsi 'wouldn't have fought me unless it was for the world title'

Hutchinson says he told Buatsi "I'll get you" in the changing room after their first fight, and questioned how his rival is feeling at 33 before Saturday's WBC title rematch in Manchester.

Willy Hutchinson has claimed Joshua Buatsi only agreed to fight him again because a world title is at stake, telling the final press conference for their rematch: "If the truth be known, he wouldn't have fought me unless it was for the world title."

The pair meet for the vacant WBC light-heavyweight title at the AO Arena in Manchester on Saturday, live on DAZN, two years after Buatsi won their first fight on a split decision at Wembley.

"It's killing two birds with one stone, isn't it?" Hutchinson said, naming the world title and putting right the wrong of the first fight, "and looking good while doing it".

He said the rematch talk began in the changing room after that fight. "I said to him, I want a rematch," Hutchinson said. By his account, Buatsi pointed to the 12 rounds they had just boxed. "I said, I'm telling you, I'll get you. And here I am."

Hutchinson then turned to the age gap. "I'm 28 now. It's been a long time coming. I don't know how he's even feeling at 33," he said. Asked for a last word on it, Buatsi replied: "I wouldn't be the first fighter fighting for a world title at 33."

The 28-year-old also said he wrote in a book at the age of 13 that he would become WBC champion of the world. "I still have the book till today," he said. "Now I'm fighting for the WBC main belt."

The pair then went nose to nose for the final press conference face-off in Manchester, with promoter Frank Warren standing between them, and it passed without a shove. The fight is scheduled for 12 rounds.

The title claim follows what Hutchinson told The Ring in September, when the fight was for the interim belt: "If the interim title wasn't on the line he would never fight me." He also said Buatsi had been "bullied into taking this fight".

Buatsi has rejected that, telling talkSPORT: "I definitely wasn't bullied into it. What I said was that I wanted something on the line. The minute we got it, everything was accepted on our side."

Buatsi knocked Hutchinson down twice at Wembley in September 2024. He has since lost to Callum Smith and beaten Zach Parker, while Hutchinson has stopped Mark Jeffers and outpointed Ezra Taylor.

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