Willy Hutchinson earns revenge, a world title in rematch win over Joshua Buatsi

Willy Hutchinson shifted gears, fighting a different kind of fight against Joshua Buatsi on Saturday in Manchester, U.K., than the one he fought in their thrilling first clash. The decision earned Hutchinson a unanimous decision win, payback and a vacant light heavyweight title.

It didn’t arrive without some suspense, though. After being outboxed in the early rounds, Buatsi made a late charge, landing some heavy leather along the way. Although Hutchinson appeared to lose steam, he did enough to control the action and muster his own offense off the back foot to woo the judges, who had it 117-112 and 115-113 twice.

If the first bout between Buatsi and Hutchinson – a physical, back-and-forth split decision at London’s Wembley Stadium that went to Buatsi – was a monster truck rally, Saturday’s contest at Manchester Arena was more kabuki theater.

Scotland’s Hutchinson, 21-2 (14 KOs), bounced on his toes, kept his head off the line and deftly countered from his southpaw stance as Buatsi took big looping swings that caught air or Hutchinson’s gloves far more often than their intended target.

Buatsi, 20-2 (13 KOs), a Ghana-born Londoner, had dropped Hutchinson in the sixth and ninth rounds back at Wembley, but it was he that took the worst of the exchanges from the start on Saturday. Hutchinson landed a left hook in the first that blasted Buatsi’s gumshield from his mouth, and by the middle rounds Buatsi, if not hurt, seemed exhausted and frustrated.

He took to using his elbows and forearms to strafe and lean on Hutchinson, and at one point appeared to spit out his mouthpiece, which bought him extra time from referee Victor Loughlin. At times, Hutchinson held the back of Buatsi’s head. Both fighters plead their cases – frequently – to Loughlin, though neither fighter was penalized over the fight’s 12 rounds.

Buatsi caught his second wind in the back third of the fight, landing more often and cleanly against Hutchinson. Buatsi nearly doubled up his opponent’s output in the 11th, including landing a furious 24 power punches in the round.

Former two-division champion and Scot Carl Frampton, working the DAZN broadcast, scored it a draw at the final bell, but Hutchinson’s ring generalship, punch accuracy and steadier work round by round won over the only scorers in the building who mattered.

Also on the card was England’s Jack Rafferty, who ran his record to 28-0-1 (18 KOs) and captured a vacant welterweight title with a unanimous decision over Belgium’s Hovhannes Martirosyan, 20-2 (12 KOs). A dramatic knockdown in the final seconds of the 12th, when Rafferty muscled Martirosyan against the ropes and clubbed him to the canvas, sealed the win, which officials scored 114-113 and 116-112 twice for Rafferty.

In a shocker, Manchester-born Zak Miller, 17-2 (3 KOs) lost a technical decision to unheralded Gully Powar, also the U.K., when gruesome swelling on the left side of Miller’s face – the result of a head clash – convinced the fight doctor to halt the bout after 10 rounds with Powar ahead on the scorecards 96-95, 97-95, 96-94.