If the promoters can settle their differences, Joshua Buatsi says he would have no problem agreeing to face his London rival Anthony Yarde.
Buatsi, the 2016 Olympic bronze medallist, returns to the ring behind-closed-doors at Stadium MK in Milton Keynes on Sunday when he faces Marko Calic. But the fight that has got a lot of people talking is a possible match-up between Buatsi and Yarde.
It was a stand-out fight in a list of potential cross-promotions matches sent to Eddie Hearn, Buatsi’s promoter, by Yarde’s promoter, Frank Warren. In a world of rivalries, not just between the promoters but their respective broadcasters, it remains something of a fantasy fight, but Buatsi says he would be up for it.
“Because we are in this sport already, we clearly want to box people,” Buatsi said.
“It’s a fight people want to see. The main issue is the promoters. If they got together and said it was going to happen, I am sure the fighters would want it.”
The Yarde fight is one of two domestic light-heavyweight match-ups presently being waved in front of Buatsi. The other is Callum Johnson, who put Artur Beterbiev on the floor before being stopped in their world title fight in 2018.
“The Johnson fight is easier to make, but whether that is made first, I don’t know,” Buatsi said. “The Yarde one would be the biggest because that is the one I get asked about the most when I meet people. The mindset is on Sunday, Calic is the only one I'm thinking about.”
It was August last year, on the Vasyl Lomachenko-Luke Campbell undercard , that Buatsi last got between the ropes. A fight in November was called off in fight week when he became ill and the show he was on in March was scrapped due to the coronavirus lockdown.
“Fourteen months sounds quite long,” he said. “I'm itching to get back in it. “There's been two camps where fights didn't materialise. But it has not been a wasted year. Nothing has been wasted.
“I always try and look on the positive side,” he said. “If you concentrate on the negatives, it will be overwhelming. I’m fit, I’m strong, I’m healthy, I’m injury free. That’s more than enough.
“My ambition right now is to win my next fight. That is the extent of my ambition. What happens after the fight I will deal with then.”
Buatsi is managed by Anthony Joshua – a GB Olympian four years earlier – and the association has raised expectations around the light-heavyweight. Sometimes he has asked the QBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight champion how best to cope.
“If there wasn't pressure it would be weird,” Buatsi said. “It is what gets me up to run, to do this and not eat what I want to eat and do what I want to do. The pressure is always there. It is inevitable. It is good to be around.
“In conversations with Josh I'm like 'damn, when you see the magnitude of the fight, how do you deal with that?'. I do ask him about that and the approaches he takes. From the little experience that I have got, I would like to say when the bell rings you fight and you block out everyone. The pressure is there, the anticipation, is there but it is never superior to what I put on myself.”
Ron Lewis is a senior writer for Boxing Scene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 - covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.