By Terence Dooley
Manchester’s Hosea Burton (20-1, 10 KOs) believes that he should have been handed a rematch with British light-heavyweight champion Frank Buglioni (20-2-1, 15 early) on the undercard of Anthony Joshua’s IBF World, WBA Super world and IBO title defence against Carlos Takam at the Principality Stadium in Wales this weekend but believes that the 28-year-old Londoner “bottled” it by opting to fight stand-in Craig Richards (10-0, 4 stoppages) instead.
Buglioni was due to defend his belt against Burton’s stable mate Callum Johnson only to go for Richards when news broke that Johnson had to withdraw from the fight due to illness. Speaking to Sheldan Keay of the Manchester Evening News, the 29-year-old former titlist revealed that he was cleared to take the fight only for the current holder to look elsewhere.
“I always thought Buglioni was a fighting man but he's showed what he is,” he fumed. “He's all front. He's been put on his toes and has bottled it...I'm surprised he's turned me down because he's been in a good 10 or 12-week camp. I've only had a few days' notice. If it was the other way round I'd have taken him at short notice. Obviously he's scared.”
He added: “He's fighting Craig Richards now, and he was the Southern Area super-middleweight champion. When I was champion I wasn't allowed to defend against Tomi Tatham or Liam Conroy, and they're both light-heavyweights.”
Burton lost the title to Buglioni after a stirring war of attrition in December on the undercard of Joshua's third-round stoppage over Eric Molina in Manchester. The two traded blows throughout only for Burton to fade late and lose by 12-round KO following knockdowns in rounds 11 and the final session.
He has since defeated Tamas Kozma (W8) and Ratu Latiananra (W TKO 1), and hopes to have a few more fights this year as he seeks to get himself back into position for a crack at the man who took away both his title and his undefeated record.
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