Buatsi vs Azeez Undercard CONFIRMED
- Joshua Buatsi And Dan Azeez Meet On Oct 21 At London’s O2
- The Domestic Clash Will Be A WBA Final Eliminator For Bivol
- Lawal, Chamberlain Trade Leather For British On Buatsi vs Azeez Undercard
WBA #1 Joshua Buatsi (17-0, 13 KOs) is set to face the British Light Heavyweight champion, Dan Azeez (19-0, 13 KOs) in an all-London clash on Saturday, October 21 at London’s 17,000-capacity O2 Arena live on Sky Sports.
Buatsi-Azeez will be a final eliminator for Dmitry Bivol’s WBA Light Heavyweight title. Bivol defended his title most recently against mandatory Gilberto Ramirez in Nov 2022.
Azeez has gained significant credit from the boxing community for taking the traditional approach with titles, winning Southern Area, English, British, Commonwealth, and European championships instead of focusing on trinket belts.
READ: CONFIRMED: Jack Catterall vs Jorge Linares Set For Oct 21 In Liverpool, Live On DAZN
Although he hasn’t competed beyond domestic level yet, the 33-year-old has strung together a strong run of wins and had significant activity, something lacking from Buatsi’s career. This will be a major step up in competition for the WBA #2 with him starting as an big underdog.
Buatsi’s last notable domestic clash came against Craig Richards in the battle of South London last May where the 2016 Olympic bronze medallist narrowly beat Richards in an exciting 12-round affair
The 30-year-old had his first 16 fights under Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing but left the promoter to join Ben Shalom’s BOXXER earlier this year. His only fight with BOXXER was an underwhelming points win over Poland’s Pawel Stepien in May.
Buatsi turned down two world title shots against WBA champion Bivol with the second offer being worth £1.25m.
Buatsi vs Azeez Undercard
Mikael Lawal (17-0, 11 KOs) will defend his British cruiserweight championship against Isaac Chamberlain (14-2, 8 KOs) in a fight that could very much steal the show.
Lawal picked up the title with a stoppage win in a difficult fight with Scotland’s David Jamieson last November.
WATCH: NoSmokeSport’s Exclusive Interview With Mikael Lawal
The pair were supposed to clash in Bournemouth but a dental injury on Lawal’s side saw the bout postponed and Chamberlain instead fought Dylan Bregeon at York Hall.
Chamberlain had a British fight of the year contender with WBO champion Chris Billam-Smith last July, establishing himself as a contender at 200 pounds.
WATCH: NoSmokeSport’s Exclusive Interview With Isaac Chamberlain
The winner will be ordered to defend against 2020 Olympian Cheavon Clarke who has quickly become must-watch TV in the eighteen months since turning professional.
Commonwealth super-welterweight champion Louis Greene (16-3, 10 KOs) will make a third defence of his title when he meets Sam Gilley (16-1, 8 KOs). The fight will double up as a final eliminator for the British championship held by newly-crowned champion Samuel Antwi.
Greene scored a fifth-round knockout victory over Dean Sutherland to win the Commonwealth title in November last year and defended it in May with another stoppage victory against Paul Kean.
English super-welterweight champion Gilley booked this shot at Greene’s Commonwealth title in June, when he landed a blistering body-shot knockout of Ellis Corrie in what was the third stoppage victory of his last four outings.
2020 Olympics bronze medallist Karriss Artingstall (4-0) is confirmed for the card for her fifth professional outing and her second time competing over eight rounds as she works her way up the rankings and towards title contention.
Canada’s Vanessa Bradford (7-4-2), who has gone the distance with three 130-pound champion Hyun Mi Choi, Alycia Baumgardner and Mikaela Mayer, will look to spring an upset on Britain’s Artingstall.
Michael Hennessy Jr (11-1-1) and Joe Laws (13-2) clash in an 8-round Middleweight bout. Hennessy was supposed to face Harley Benn on this show but the brother of Conor Benn and legendary Nigel Benn was pulled out by his team.
Both Laws and Hennessy have suffered upset losses to journeymen. Laws was stopped by Rylan Charlton on a Sky Sports main card in Oct 2020.