WBA #1 Buatsi outpoints Stepien

B'ham 09 Buatsi Vs Stepien
Photo: BOXXER / Lawrence Lustig

In a meaningful fight between world-rated contenders, undefeated WBA #1, WBO #2, WBC #3, IBF #13 light heavyweight and 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Joshua Buatsi (17-0, 13 KOs) scored a workmanlike ten round unanimous decision over previously unbeaten IBF #4, WBA #13, WBC #14, WBO #14 Pawel Stepien (18-1-1, 12 KOs) on Saturday night at the Resorts World Arena in Birmingham, England. Buatsi was in command all the way in a bout that never really heated up. Scores were 98-92, 97-94, 100-90.

“I’ve been out of the ring for almost a year, so I needed the 10 rounds. I wanted to knock him out, and I’m disappointed I didn’t, but we got the win. If I had lost it, everything would have changed, so I had to be smart,” Buatsi told Sky Sports after the fight.

2020 Olympics silver medallist Ben Whittaker (3-0, 2 KOs) outclassed and kayoed Jordan ‘The Game’ Grant (6-3, 1 KO) in a light heavyweight clash. Whittaker, who landed at will, dropped Grant in round two, then immediately finished him 13 seconds into round three.

2020 Olympic gold medallist Lauren Price MBE (4-0, 1 KO) outpointed former EBU European champion Kirstie Bavington (7-4-2, 2 KOs) over ten rounds to claim the vacant British women’s welterweight title. Scored 100-90 3x. This was the the inaugural British women’s championship fight.

Other Results:
Tyler Denny W8 Macaulay McGowan (middleweight)
Sean McComb W10 Kaisee Benjamin (super lightweight)
Shakan Pitters W8 Joel McIntyre (light heavyweight)
Cori Gibbs w8 Jimmy First (lightweight)
Danny Quartermaine TKO4 Christian Lopez Flores (lightweight)

Valenzuela, Gvozdyk victorious
Tank Davis sentenced

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  • Lauren Price is going to be a problem. I think she could beat Sandy Ryan right now.

  • I enjoy following boxing but am not familiar with how rankings are determined. Reading about the Buatsi/Stepien fight I’m wondering why the disparity in rankings for the 2 guys in the same bodies eg Buatsi IBF#13 & Stepien #4 but Buatsi WBC#3 & Stepien #14
    Appreciate any advice, thanks

    • It’s a really good question with, unfortunately, probably not much of an answer; at least not a direct one. What I will say is that if you follow the rankings enough, you start to notice that all of the organizations tend to have their own ‘habits’ or things that they tend to favor. The obvious ones are that the WBC is Mexican, so they’ll have more Mexicans higher in their rankings (they also seem to be rather fond of Thailand and they also have muay thai champions). The same goes for the WBA with Panama and the WBO with Puerto Rico, but to a lesser degree. The IBF, at least for me, also tend to have strange #1’s. They’ll have a mandatory who either isn’t ranked at all by the others or if he is, is kind of lowly and it’s odd because they’re also the most likely to strip a champion for not satisfying a mandatory.

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