British and European light-heavyweight champion Dan Azeez has the momentum, having boxed three times in three different countries over the past nine months. Joshua Buatsi may have won the domestic strap four years ago, but the Olympic bronze medallist still hasn’t yet reached the world championship heights many tipped for him given such amateur pedigree. Now, one Londoner’s unbeaten streak will end on October 21. Who has the nerve?
Azeez dons WAR cap, says it reflects his current mindset
Joshua Buatsi (17-0, 13 KOs) vs. Dan Azeez (20-0, 13 KOs)
WBA light-heavyweight final eliminator for Dmitry Bivol’s world title
British cruiserweight title: Mikael Lawal (c) vs. Isaac Chamberlain in co-main
October 21, London’s 02 Arena and live on Sky Sports – undercard TBC
- “It’s a reminder that I’m at war with everything: myself to improve and overcome the hurdles to be successful in this fight, the doubters who think I can’t do it, a friend in-front of my dreams and aspirations,” Azeez when asked about wearing the WAR cap, sending Buatsi a subliminal message
- “I was shit as an amateur and had no choice [but to go down the traditional route], promoters weren’t interested, I had to title-by-title show that I’m a contender. That was the route I had to take, thank God that’s what moulded me into the fighter I am today,” 33-year-old on the grind, his journey to prominence going from Southern Area, English, British titles and beyond
- “We’ll give you a hell of a fight. I need my hand raised and he does too – I’m not gonna stop until my goals are achieved. Josh is a brilliant fighter, used to spar rounds-upon-rounds with him and [boxer-coach] Duane Sinclair… they helped me improve and are partly to do with it, but a job’s gotta get done,” Azeez aware that friendships will be put on hold over the coming months, as the pair share training partners and team members
What a difference two years can make. There’s no doubting Dan Azeez has earned this shot, and done it the long way to secure a WBA title eliminator as long-reigning champion Dmitry Bivol presumably awaits October’s victor in the new year.
After a 2022 he will never forget, the Russian has watched from the sidelines so far this calendar year as the Canelo Álvarez rematch failed to materialise and inactivity has struck for another titlist in a division packed with British challengers.
Buatsi’s last five fights
Pawel Stepien, UD10 – May 2023
Craig Richards, UD12 – May 2022
Ricards Bolotniks, R11 TKO – August 21
Daniel Blenda Dos Santos, R4 TKO – May 2021
Marko Calic, R7 TKO – October 2020
Azeez’s last five fights
Khalid Graidia, UD8 – July 23
Thomas Faure, R12 TKO – March 2023
Rocky Fielding, R8 TKO – Dec. 22
Shakan Pitters – UD12 – Sept. 22
Reece Cartwright, R8 TKO – March 2022
That doesn’t include two-time challenger Anthony Yarde, who celebrated his 32nd birthday on Sunday and has publicly stated a Buatsi showdown is inevitable at some stage, as he readies himself for a return vs. Ricky Summers in six weeks’ time.
Former WBA super-middleweight world champion Callum Smith has a rescheduled fight date to prepare for in January against Artur Beterbiev, while Lyndon Arthur – who beat Yarde in 2020 – boxes for an IBO world title on Sept. 1 and Craig Richards still harbours ambitions of earning a second crack at championship gold too.
The light-heavyweight division is talent-rich and booming with possibilities, so much so that many critics have longed for a WBSS-style tournament to decide the next steps while a Bivol-Beterbiev unification battle remains unlikely in the interim.
Azeez sparred Beterbiev last year and gained plenty from that experience, which only served as fuel to one day reach the top table himself.
Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn named the 33-year-old as a possible Bivol opponent in late June, if he was a promotional free agent and a deal could be agreed. Nothing materialised and so, this matchup decides Dmitry’s next mandatory challenger.
Buatsi has his back against the wall
You won’t catch him saying anything of the sort publicly, but disrespected is a good way to describe Joshua Buatsi right now.
Many were quick to rubbish his return against Poland’s then-unbeaten world contender Pawel Stepien in May, insisting Matchroom dodged a bullet by not agreeing terms on a contract extension with the Olympic bronze medallist.
Now, he’s back over on Sky and after underwhelming in his first BOXXER show, they’ve seemingly bypassed his wishes by pitting him against the biggest divisional rival on their existing stable. Coincidence? Lawrence Okolie wants a word.
Ben Shalom and the BOXXER bosses will publicly insist they have no horse in the upcoming race, but having steadily grown Azeez’s standing over the past two years, will privately be leaning towards him after investing in his journey of late.
There’s no shame in that, we as human beings all have biases – conscious or not – but given how the promotion have repeatedly fumbled big proposed fights of late, it leaves questions about Buatsi’s next step with victory here.
This is high-risk, low-reward from his perspective. The buzzword pressure has often been used to describe his career so far, for better and worse, it’s again a theme here.
Well aware he’ll be favoured to win in two months’ time, even if Azeez has been the more active of the two, he represents an opponent many critics didn’t believe would reach this stage two or three years ago. Who has more to lose? The answer is clear.
Friend or not, just like Craig Richards was in May last year, the 30-year-old has a job to do and a long overdue world title opportunity again hangs in the balance.
You can unpick as much or as little as you want from a press conference like this one.
For starters, Buatsi’s reserved style doesn’t lend itself to much scrutiny and Azeez isn’t a trash-talker by nature either. He’ll speak when he feels it necessary and isn’t unafraid to voice his opinion, but not in a way that will grab headlines.
Lawal-Chamberlain was feisty the first time around when originally scheduled, for the chief support in Bournemouth three months ago.
Now, there’s still undeniable tension between them – security on edge throughout – but the biggest fracas of the afternoon came later, unsupervised, featuring welterweights Chris Kongo and Florian Marku as the latter was doing an interview.
Unbeaten Albanian contender Marku is set to box Dylan Moran (18-1) on the Smith-Eubank 2 undercard on September 2, ending a year-long layoff after injury.
As one security guard scolded him for instigating a potentially dangerous scene in public, repeatedly warning him that he could lose his boxing licence if trouble escalated, the 30-year-old was unmoved and rather offended by the whole scene.
It was a timely reminder that drama is never too far away from the surface, whether it’s to sell a potential future fight or increase fan interest in an event.
One-to-one interviews
BOXXER promoter Ben Shalom wasn’t available for comment afterwards, and there are some questions which need to be put his way over the coming weeks about many topics. I’ve been trying since before the Clarke-Wardley fallout, but no dice.
Easier said than done, but perhaps I’ll get lucky soon. Fortunately from building existing relationships with some fighters as it is, I was able to pose a few questions.
Here’s what you should know about the aforementioned quartet and one-time world title challenger Denzel Bentley…
- Azeez tells me Buatsi asked for the fight, they’re both at a level where they’re close enough together in the world light-heavyweight rankings so it “needed to happen” and agreed upon shortly before his July 15 UD8 win over French journeyman Graidia in Verbania, Italy
- Lawal says it was a conscious decision not to verbally engage with Chamberlain this time around, says the IBF international cruiserweight champion was purposely putting on an act to make him react
- 28-year-old confirms he’s back with his old trainer at Stonebridge Boxing Club (SBC), he’s thankful and in a much happier place than he was a few months prior after dental injury. “I didn’t fall out with him but certain things happened before the split, we’re both in a good place now, work well together and he knows my style better than anyone.”
- British middleweight champion Denzel Bentley tells me he received an October fight date last Friday and has today begun training camp geared towards that, waiting for official dates and opponent confirmation now, but stayed ready and wanted summer return after Kieran Smith R1 KO
- Buatsi says it comes naturally when asked about how the mental switch is flipped between friends before a fight: “Most people don’t fight someone they’re familiar or friends with, not a weird thing – you’re cool with them but understand that yeah, we’re gonna have to fight. I can have a few jokes with Dan but he’s come in here today, wearing a hat with WAR on his head, it’s another reminder of that.”
- Chamberlain on how his mindset changed after first cancellation, mixed emotions watching two foes in Bournemouth: “I had to remain professional, it was obviously annoying and I had to maintain my weight while waiting so was overcooked by the time [UD8 win vs. Dylan Bregeon, June 16] that came around. If I was on point, I would’ve stopped him in four rounds. Hopefully he doesn’t pull out this time and we have a great fight.”
- Predicting CBS-Okolie 2 now Lawrence has activated his rematch clause, he says: “I think Chris has his number because of Shane McGuigan, to be honest. He’s very good at adapting and listening to his coach’s tactics… how is Okolie gonna approach it this time too? You just don’t know.”
During a podcast episode on the George Groves Boxing Club (GGBC) last month, British light-heavyweight contender Richards revealed plenty of insight into his mindset and was in a reflective mood on his UD12 world title defeat by Bivol in 2021.
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“When I was in there, it was some of the mental, yet again overthinking… am I winning the rounds? I’m coming back to the corner and they’re saying yeah I think you won that round, we got to R9 and the fight was quite close.
I think they [his trainers] were like you’ve got to win two of the last three and I thought what? I thought we were free then [to cruise], if I knew it was this, would’ve pressed [the action] then! Last three I kept going for him, won the back end of the rounds – it was still 115-113, 114-113, one and half-a-round off.
If I knew that, I had so much left in the tank! I could’ve done another five rounds, I warm up as the rounds go on I get stronger – knew I was running out of time, trying to force the action and press late. He’s smart and knew when to hold, when to push off, world champion for a reason. I just ran out of time, if I started and knew to go a bit earlier [in the fight], very frustrating.”
I asked both main event boxers about this and they had very different answers.
Mosope: Richards said his team made it seem as though the Bivol fight was closer than it actually ended up, so he left feeling short-handed with a bit more in the tank. How do you balance that in real-time, managing energy and punch output while listening to the corner in fights that are close?
Azeez: What you just said there… sounds like a lot of thinking!
Once you’re in there, it comes down to just natural instinct – obviously a little ring IQ and thinking attached but it’s quite simple at the end of the day, it’s a fight and I gotta get rid of the guy in-front of me. You’ve got coaches telling you this, that and the third, but you’ve just gotta go out there and fuck the guy up man.
Buatsi: That comes in training, managing the fight, your team being real and honestly telling you how things are. I haven’t been in that position [the one Richards described] so it’s hard to say too much.. but yeah it [balance] develops over time.
All pictures captured by me, fighter quotes via Sky’s televised press conference or procured in one-on-one interviews with me
Mo and Sports 