Joshua Buatsi-Willy Hutchinson rematch now for full WBC title vacated by David Benavidez

The WBC has announced that David Benavidez has officially vacated his light-heavyweight championship in order to campaign full-time at cruiserweight, and that the upcoming Joshua Buatsi-Willy Hutchinson rematch has been upgraded to being for their now-vacant world title.

WBC No. 3-ranked Buatsi, 20-1 (13 KOs), of London via Accra, Ghana, and No. 6-ranked Hutchinson, 20-2 (14 KOs), of Carstairs, Scotland, will meet for the second time in the main event of Queensbury Promotions’ “A Point 2 Prove” event on Saturday, November 7, live on DAZN from the UK’s Manchester Arena. 

The fight, originally sanctioned for the WBC interim title will now intensify further with full world championship honors now on the line. 

The pair first met in September 2024, resulting in a hotly contested (117-108, 112-113, 115-110) 12-round split decision for Buatsi. 

Convinced he should have been given the nod despite going down twice in the fight, 28-year-old Hutchinson had been clamoring for a return engagement ever since.

33-year-old Buatsi, a bronze medalist at the 2016 Rio Olympics, rebounded from his first professional loss, a February 2025 unanimous decision to Callum Smith, to score a majority 10-round decision over countryman Zach Parker in November 2025.

Hutchinson has scored two victories since dropping the decision to Buatsi, stopping Mark Jeffers in seven rounds in October 2025 and taking a unanimous decision over Ezra Taylor in March.