Joshua Buatsi overcame Dan Azeez in a fascinating fight at Wembley Arena to become the new British and Commonwealth champion, and win the WBA light-heavyweight eliminator.
The headline bout saw two friends from south London go head-to-head, both with unbeaten records on the line, with Azeez 20-0, and Buatsi 17-0.
Bad blood had emerged in their relationship, however, with this fight supposed to be happening on October 21, before Azeez was forced to pull out with a back injury, and Buatsi questioning the legitimacy of Azeez’s excuse.
Buatsi, who last fought against Pawel Stepien in May last year, said before the fight that “We liked each other – ‘ed’ – but we know what we have to do.”
The fight was enthralling, with a big Buatsi left hook and a stiff Azeez jab demonstrating that both men had entered the ring with positive mentalities.
Another left from Buatsi and a right from Azeez finished off an engaging first round, before Buatsi turned to his opponent’s body in the second, with Azeez still feeling out his rhythm behind his jab, landing two clean rights to finish the second strongly.
The third ended with a tirade of punches from both men as they sought to let their hands go, and the fourth saw more excellent work from Buatsi to force Azeez to breathe more heavily.
More free swinging finished off the fifth as a body and hook combination rocked Azeez in the final seconds, but he steadied himself with a slick jab.
The sixth had more near misses than cleanly landed shots, but it was clear that it was the challenger, Buatsi, who was controlling the tempo of the fight, slipping Azeez’s jabs from range.
A big Azeez right stirred the crowd up at the start of the eighth, before a short left hook from Buatsi wobbled Azeez momentarily, although it seemed as though the title holder slipped somewhat.
Azeez sought to put the pressure on in the ninth, getting on the front foot more behind his jab, and letting his fists fly, and a big right at the start of the 10th saw him working his way back into the contest.
That was until a huge left from Buatsi at the end of the 10th caught Azeez, before the knockdown finally came in round 11.
The first seemed like a slip from Azeez – a common theme of this fight – as he dropped to the canvas, but Buatsi had connected with a left, and similar happened just shy of the bell, with a Buatsi left just skimming Azeez’s temple to send him down.
Azeez ran on empty in the final round, trying to avoid the knockout blow, and despite a last-ditch Buatsi onslaught, the Croydon-born Azeez saw the final bell, as both fighters embraced – with the judges awarding a unanimous decision.
Elsewhere on the card, Caroline Dubois retained her IBO lightweight title and extended her pro record to 9-0 with a unanimous decision win over Miranda Reyes, while Adam Azim kept his super-lightweight title after a bizarre stoppage that saw his opponent, Enock Poulsen, go down with a dislocated shoulder after being hit with a left hook.
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