Light heavyweight contender Joshua Buatsi believes the time is now for a domestic showdown with division rival Anthony Yarde.

Earlier this year, Yarde put in a respectable performance when he was stopped by unified world champion Artur Beterbiev.

Buatsi was in action last weekend, when he outboxed unbeaten Pawel Stepien in Birmingham.

Buatsi the WBA's top contender, but the world champion of the sanctioning body, Dmitry Bivol, is already coming off a mandatory defense against Gilberto Ramirez - and is heading to a rematch with Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez in September.

Beterbiev, the unified WBC, WBO, IBF champion, is already tied to a mandatory defense against Callum Smith.

With both world champions tied up with other obligations, one of the biggest options for Buatsi is a fight with Yarde.

"While the titles are tied up, let's do something. If Yarde is the man for me to box next, I'm more than happy to make that happen," Buatsi told Sky Sports.

"Maybe [I'll be viewed as the underdog]. Someone might sit there and say, 'Yarde's explosive. He's going to come, he's going to bang him out.' Let's see if that would happen.

"I wouldn't say it would be easy [to stop him] but I think it's something that's doable. I just know I can win and there would be 12 rounds to try and do it."

Despite looking less than spectacular against Stepien, Buatsi is very confident in his ability to overcome Yarde.

"I'm very confident. I don't doubt it. I'm learning more and more. I'm learning and doing things that's making me even more confident. Even in that fight that I had on Saturday, there were things I did where [I think] this is good," Buatsi said.

"Of course, I look at the other aspect of it, of wanting to entertain and perform and the excitement and that's why I wanted the stoppage [against Stepien]. I didn't get the stoppage, but in the long run doing the 10 rounds was beneficial. When someone's surviving it's very hard to chin them. When they're coming to fight, that's when there's gaps."